Raisin' Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter (Kindle Edition) (37 page)
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Authors: Mary Lou Sullivan
BOOK: Raisin' Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter (Kindle Edition)
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A week after the
Hard Again
tour ended, Johnny returned to The Schoolhouse and produced his own blues record on the Blue Sky label.
“Nothin’ But the Blues
was the first time I got to do all blues since my first CBS record,” he said. “Steve Paul didn’t particularly like me doin’ that but I had the power to do what I wanted. I used Muddy’s band ’cause I had been workin’ with them and they were a great blues band. Better than a British blues band ’cause the British stuff wasn’t real.”
Hard Again
tour ended, Johnny returned to The Schoolhouse and produced his own blues record on the Blue Sky label.
“Nothin’ But the Blues
was the first time I got to do all blues since my first CBS record,” he said. “Steve Paul didn’t particularly like me doin’ that but I had the power to do what I wanted. I used Muddy’s band ’cause I had been workin’ with them and they were a great blues band. Better than a British blues band ’cause the British stuff wasn’t real.”
Johnny paid all the musicians scale except for Cotton.
“James argued about how much money he was supposed to get,” says Johnny. “He thought he deserved more because he was the frontman. I ended up payin’ more than I was supposed to because he said he wasn’t gonna come unless I gave him extra money. He won that one.”
With the exception of “Walkin’ Through the Park,” Johnny wrote all the songs on that album. The sessions took several weeks, with Johnny miking the room like he did for
Hard Again
. But unlike the earlier recording session for Waters’s first album, the band had played together before going into the studio and that affected the chemistry. “We’d been on the stage together as a band for a number of shows just recently, so we were a lot tighter and a lot more together than for
Hard Again,”
said Margolin.
Hard Again
. But unlike the earlier recording session for Waters’s first album, the band had played together before going into the studio and that affected the chemistry. “We’d been on the stage together as a band for a number of shows just recently, so we were a lot tighter and a lot more together than for
Hard Again,”
said Margolin.
Johnny did the vocals, and played electric guitar, National acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. “I had two different Nationals, a single cone and a tri-cone,” says Johnny. “I used the single cone for the slide. The single cone had a brittle, more trebly, more clear sound than the tri-cone, which is a little bassier. Charles Calmese was the bass player on that record, but I played bass and drums too because it was something I wanted to do.”
Margolin’s guitar style meshed well with Johnny’s; they had the same influences and he never stepped on Johnny’s toes. He’d play background to Johnny’s leads, and when he did get a solo—which wasn’t often—he’d give it all he had.
“Whatever Johnny played, I would find a part that would go well with it,” said Margolin. “I was playing a little more straight Chicago blues, but when we did ‘Tired of Tryin’,’ I did a long solo that was more of a modern style. Johnny’s really got his own distinctive sound; he doesn’t sound like anybody else. My guitar playing is a combination of my influences too, but it certainly isn’t as recognizable as Johnny’s.”
Nothin’ But the Blues
was lauded by the critics; a reviewer in
Rolling Stone
wrote: “There’s no shortage of hair-raising picking, for Winter simply has never recorded in as vital a blues context.... Winter has effectively bridged the gap between hard rock and the blues in a way that only great stylists like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton have been able to, thus proving himself as one of our greatest musical resources.”
was lauded by the critics; a reviewer in
Rolling Stone
wrote: “There’s no shortage of hair-raising picking, for Winter simply has never recorded in as vital a blues context.... Winter has effectively bridged the gap between hard rock and the blues in a way that only great stylists like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton have been able to, thus proving himself as one of our greatest musical resources.”
Johnny needed a band to tour in support of
Nothin’ But the Blues
and remembered the musicians who had befriended him in New Orleans. Torello was playing in Black Oak Arkansas, but had kept in close contact. When Black Oak Arkansas offered Torello a seven-year contract, Johnny paid his own attorney to review the paperwork, and Torello was advised not to sign.
Nothin’ But the Blues
and remembered the musicians who had befriended him in New Orleans. Torello was playing in Black Oak Arkansas, but had kept in close contact. When Black Oak Arkansas offered Torello a seven-year contract, Johnny paid his own attorney to review the paperwork, and Torello was advised not to sign.
“Johnny says it’s time for you to play with me,” said Torello. “Then he says, ‘Okay, Bobby, you’re in the band, pal, but you don’t know how to play blues. All you know is the Allman Brothers; you don’t know anything about blues.’ So I sat in his apartment for two months listening. I learned quite a bit. Every night we’d sit and listen to all these old classic blues records, stuff you wouldn’t even believe timing wise. It’s called ‘Follow the Leader’ and that’s all you had to do. Of course, I played it a younger, more powerful style, but it worked out well.”
Johnny’s original lineup for that tour included Rush and Hobbs, but Hobbs was replaced by Ikey Sweat when he passed out at a rehearsal and was taken away by ambulance. “I thought he got electrocuted,” said Torello. “It looked like he was having an epileptic seizure. So Johnny flew Ikey Sweat in to play bass for that tour. Ikey was one of the nicest people I ever met in my life, a country guy straight out of Texas.”
Rush, who was living in New Haven, Connecticut and had played with Torello in one of Michael Bolton’s early bands, remembers Hobbs’s sudden departure. “We rehearsed for the tour at S.I.R. for a few weeks with Randy Jo, then rented the Calderone, a concert hall in Long Island, for two afternoons and nights in their off times,” said Rush. “We set the whole stage up so we could see how everybody wanted their gear set up. Randy put his bass on, turned around, started adjusting his amplifier; and all of a sudden, he fell over in the drums and passed out cold. We called the emergency guys and they came and took him away. We didn’t see him again until he came out again to see us at a gig. Ikey flew in the next day; he had big enough ears that he could jump in and play.”
The
Nothin’ But the Blues
tour covered the U.S.; the band played four or five gigs a week for eleven weeks. One of Johnny’s last U.S. tours at large venues and coliseums; they performed for 10,000 to 15,000 people each night, headlining over 38 Special and the Climax Blues Band. Gone were the wild outfits; Johnny dressed to suit himself, in a flat brimmed leather hat, blue-jean shirt, and old ripped up jeans with patches. Like the
Hard Again
tour, Johnny kept to himself, but traveled with one of his on-the-road female companions.
Nothin’ But the Blues
tour covered the U.S.; the band played four or five gigs a week for eleven weeks. One of Johnny’s last U.S. tours at large venues and coliseums; they performed for 10,000 to 15,000 people each night, headlining over 38 Special and the Climax Blues Band. Gone were the wild outfits; Johnny dressed to suit himself, in a flat brimmed leather hat, blue-jean shirt, and old ripped up jeans with patches. Like the
Hard Again
tour, Johnny kept to himself, but traveled with one of his on-the-road female companions.
Jimi Hendrix jamming with Johnny at the Scene in 1969. Jimi is playing Tommy Shannon’s 1962 Fender Jazz bass. (Photo by Charles Harbutt)
Promo shot for
Johnny Winter
. (Photo courtesy of Sony/Legacy)
Johnny Winter
. (Photo courtesy of Sony/Legacy)
Johnny and Janis shared a warm rapport—on- and offstage. (Photo by Steve Banks)
Johnny joined Janis Joplin at a December 1969 gig at Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Steve Banks)
Johnny with Jimi Hendrix engineer/producer Eddie Kramer during the
Johnny Winter
sessions in Nashville. (Photo from the personal collection of Uncle John Turner)
Johnny Winter
sessions in Nashville. (Photo from the personal collection of Uncle John Turner)
Triumphant return to the Vulcan Gas Company in Austin in March 1970. (Photo by Burton Wilson; from the personal collection of Uncle John Turner)
Johnny and Susan Winter, who has shared his life since 1972. (Photo by Bob Gruen)
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