the Who’s Tommy) and Johnny’s take on “Prodigal Son.”Īt the core of True To The Blues are the six albums that Winter recorded for Columbia Records, and the six albums that he recorded for manager Steve Paul’s Blue Sky Records (distributed by Epic). Also from the Atlanta fest are two more previously unreleased numbers, Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Eyesight To The Blind” (cf. True To The Blues rediscovers the Columbia three-LP event of 1970, The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies – Isle Of Wight/Atlanta Pop, previously unavailable on CD, whose opening track was “Mean Mistreater” by Johnny Winter And (his group with Rick Derringer and bassist Randy Hobbs, with Edgar sitting in on drums). In a career filled with signature songs that frame a litany for loyal fans, True To The Blues covers every base with its mix of studio and live material: “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Dallas,” “Mean Mistreater,” “Mean Town Blues,” “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo,” “Rock Me Baby,” “It’s My Own Fault,” “Good Morning Little School Girl,” “Bony Moronie,” “Hustled Down In Texas,” “Be Careful With A Fool,” “Johnny B. Music ranges from his independently recorded and released The Progressive Blues Experiment of 1968 (“Bad Luck And Trouble,” “Mean Town Blues”) up through 2011’s all-star duets project, Roots (“Maybelline” with Vince Gill, “Dust My Broom” with Derek Trucks). His performance of Ray Charles’ seemingly untouchable “I’ll Drown in My Own Tears” is tender and vulnerable without ever going soft.Covering the fullest scope of Johnny Winter’s prodigious recording career, True To The Blues is sourced from 27 separate albums on the Imperial, Columbia, Blue Sky/Epic, Alligator, Point Blank (Virgin), Friday Music, Megaforce, and Columbia/Legacy labels. The guitar craft is spectacular-Winter combines the gutsiness of Lightnin’ Hopkins and the madness of Jimi Hendrix. He cut his teeth playing R&B and blues around Beaumont, and his down-home feel is what elevates his performances of well-worn standards like “Good Morning Little School Girl,” “Country Girl," and “Back Door Friend,” the last of which is about raw as white blues got in the '60s. Winter, on the other hand, was a Texas original. Though Bloomfield was a virtuoso, he was also an outsider who had to work his way into Chicago's blues culture.
It’s not hard to imagine what a guy like Bloomfield must have felt when he first heard Winter.
A&R men from Columbia were in attendance and signed Winter on the spot within months his self-titled debut was in stores. Johnny Winter’s big break came when Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper brought him onstage as a special guest during a 1969 concert at the Fillmore East.
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