Johnny Winter was one of the first generation of white blues-rock guitar virtuosos, blazing his fiery, fluid style across all manner of blues in the late 60s/early 70s with a singular passion. But he was pursued by demons – mainly heroin – that continued to gnaw away at his genial talent until he died in 2014.
His multi-instrumentalist brother Edgar has paid tribute to Johnny by enlisting a collection of modern-day guitar heroes to specifically honour Johnny’s playing style and legacy on covers of a selection of his best tracks.
It’s a skill that involves more than just copying the notes, and the results, from the likes of Billy Gibbons, Joe Walsh, Joe Bonamassa, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, are impressive.
But ultimately you don’t learn as much about Johnny himself as you would from listening to the originals of the 17 tracks presented here.
