From Steve Kimock- Berlin, Germany, July 17, 2014: Woke today in Berlin to the news that Johnny Winter passed away last night in Zurich. Theres no way to express in words how important Johnny Winters music was to me as a young man, how formative and influential in detail and concept. He defined rock and blues guitar playing for me, crossed those lines, blurred those distinctions, on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, fretted, bottleneck slide; he was King for me. All that before he opened his mouth to sing, both lyrically and in his vocalizations with his guitar, which was probably what attracted me to his music the most. Ive never heard anything like Johnny singing along with his guitar, before or since, and there will never be another. His whole thing was so unique, powerful, raw, and exciting. As pointless and difficult it might be to name a favorite guitar solo, Johnnys playing on Miss Ann remains one of my favorite guitar performances from that generation of modern electric blues music. His bottleneck playing on Highway 61 was another jaw dropping experience for me as a youth, untouchable. If that was all Id ever heard of Johnny Winter it would still put him right in the middle of the Mt Rushmore of modern electric blues playing for me, and if this were a just world itd be his face on the five dollar bill. If I could have played anything half as good as Miss Ann or Highway 61, I would have died happy. For all the excitement and inspiration he brought to my generation of players and listeners, heres hoping Johnny did. RIP, to a true giant of American musical culture. m.youtube/watch?v=Yh-3iomkurU
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 09:45:55 +0000
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