Remembering Johnny Winter

John Dawson Winter III was born February 23, 1944 in Beaumont, Texas. Johnny and his younger brother Edgar were child prodigy’s, picking up and mastering many instruments.

Johnny and his brother began performing at an early age. When Johnny was just ten years old, the brothers appeared on a local children’s show, “Chuckles The Clown”, with Johnny playing ukulele, and Edgar on Flugelhorn. Johnny later confessed that Chuckles chased him around the studio and grabbed him by the Flugelhorn.

Horned Toads

Did you know that the Winter Brothers are not actually albinos. At a young age, Johnny and Edgar were bitten by horned toads while playing in a local swimming hole. They lost all pigmentation in their bodies and their hair turned white. Doctors were baffled and told the boys mother that she should give them a pill in a saucer of milk and keep them warm and consider putting them to sleep.

Remembering Johnny Winter — Johnny Winter Illustration By Paul King Art

In 1962, while only 17 years old, Winter was beginning to make a name for himself around the Texas and Louisiana blues scene. One night, he and his brother Edgar went down to a club in Beaumont, Texas to catch B.B. King. After a bit of cajoling, the bluesman allowed Winter to come on stage to show off what he could do. “He didn’t know if I could play or not and I showed him,” Winter recalled. “I got a standing ovation for it. It was the first time I had ever played the blues in front of a black audience. I, my brother and Bryant Gumbel were the only whites in the audience.”

Woodstock

1969 was a banner year for Winter, as he was the darling of the music world. Johnny played Woodstock (along with Edgar), toured extensively and recorded his follow up album “Second Winter”. The two-record album, which only had three recorded sides (the fourth was blank), introduced a couple more staples of Winter’s concerts, including Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”. Also at this time Johnny entered into an intimate, albeit short-lived affair with Janis Joplin, which culminated in a concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where Johnny joined her on stage to sing and perform. They ended up smooching and singing a duet on “I Got You Babe”.

Johnny was an incredible and influential bluesman, guitarist and musician. Some consider Johnny to be the best slide guitarist of all time. Johnny continued playing and recording until his death. Johnny died on July 16, 2014.