Transcript of this article in Corpus Christi
By AL Rudis Chicago Sunday Times
ONCE UPON a time in Texas, there was a guitar player named Johnny Winter. He was not very good-looking. He was an albino with pink eyes and shocking white hair. Be was also cross-eyed. But Johnny didn't let that bother him. He liked to play the blues and he was good at it. He was up in Chicago playing with Mike Bloomfield before Mike became a superstar. He played with B. B. King before B. B. was known outside the black club circuit.
However, Johnny never went anywhere. He just stayed in Texas and played the blues. MEANWHILE other people were leaving Texas and going to San Francisco — Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Sir Douglas Quintet. the Steve Miller Band. They all became famous, but not Johnny. One day, Bolling Stone, a magazine about rock and pop music, decided to do an article on all the wonderful San Francisco people who had come from Texas and what they were like and where they came from and why they left. Quite a few of these Texas people remembered Johnny Winter and said to Rolling Stone something like 'If you think we're good, you should see Johnny Winter.
He is better than almost everybody and he's still kicking around Texas going nowhere." SOME PEOPLE read the article about Texasand took notice of Johnny Winter's name. They include a princa named Steve Paul, who owns a nightclub in New York sod kings Elektra, RCA. Columbia and Atlantic, who are record companies. Steve Paul flew down to Texas and found Johnny Winter and flew him to New York where he played before the kings. Then Steve Paul told the kings that Johnny Winter was available. At $500,000, RCA dropped out of the bidding. But the final offer of Columbia was around $600.000, And so evidently Johnny Winter Is to live happy over after. END OF THE fairy tale.
But real life Ls a little different. First along came Imperial Records, which didn't bid anything but went down to Texas and found a record Johnny had not for a little company called Sonoheat. Imperial bought thee whole company and released 'The Progressive Blues Experimeat" almost at the same time Columbia released its "Johnny Winter," Remember king Atlantic which lost out in the bidding? Well, It went down to Texas, too, and found a man who had some tapes of Johnny Winter that had been made a long time ago and never been put on a record. The man also had some kind of contract with Johnny. Atlantic bought both and it now claims to have the only legal contract.
That's the story of Johnny Winter up to now, It naturally raises this question: What kind of music does he play, anyway? THE ANSWER is black —ket black. In Nashville. while he was recording the Columbia album, they referred to it as pink-eyed soul. Call It cross-eyed soul, too, if you like, but it's nothing exotic. In Johnny Winter, we have a master musical technician and gruff-voiced vocalist who can really wail the blues: his appearance may be bizarre but his genius is basic. The chief difference between "Johnny Winter" (Columbia) and "The Progressive Blues Experiment" (Imperial) Is evolution. The Imperial IS an earlier record, and Johnny's improved since then.
He's kept the some backup men. Tommy Shannon on bass and John Turner on drums. Thoe Columbia does feature some guests on a few of the cuts, but essentially, It has the same good country blues, recorded much better of course. Despite the tremendous money and publicity that have been swirling around hint, Winter has remained true tee himself art1stically, which is sort of happy ending
Source: 69-05-17 Corpus Christi Caller-Times
