I first saw Johnny Winter at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969, a few weeks after Woodstock. There were close to 300,000 people there.
Johnny was dressed entirely in white and was wearing a white jacket with long fringe. He played at night on the third day and when the spotlights hit him I'm sure he could be seen for miles. I imagine people looking out of their plane windows could have seen him that night. He reflected light so well.
I can't remember if he had a bass player or not. I have always heard that he did some gigs for a while without one. And it was around that same time. Apparently Johnny and Tommy Shannon had some falling out. I saw Tommy Shannon about a year after Stevie Ray had died, when his new band was playing at a club near where I worked. I mentioned his early stuff with Johnny Winter and got a very chilly response. I guess he was still really hurting from Stevies death, and apparently Johnny Winter is still a sore subject with him. But Stevie was the best friend Tommy ever had. They were like brothers. But I digress.
At the time of the Texas International Pop Festival, Leeland Mississippi was pretty much Johnny's theme song. I used to hear it on top 40 radio every now and then. I remember he played it that night. He probably opened with it.
I didn't see him again untill he toured with the band on the "Captured Live" album, with Randy Joe Hobbs and the rest. Except for the festival and maybe one other show, that was probably the show I liked the best.
Not long after Captured Live Johnny returned more to his bluesy roots and stop doing so many of his older rock-n-roll songs. He was as good as ever, but their were a lot of tunes he just didn't play very often anymore, such as Still Alive and Well, and Rock-n-Roll Hootchie Koo, and Leeland Mississippi.
I started seeing him fairly regularly in the late seventies and early eighties. He came around quite a lot. He stuck with the same trio for quite a while. The bass player blew harp on almost every song, it seemed. He had a special harmonica rack that looked like a clear plastic tube. He blew harp while he played bass. That trio was perfect for Johnny. That band accounts for some of the best performances I ever saw Johnny give.
I was still missing some of his old rock songs though. Then one time I saw him in a bar (with the same three-piece band). The band seemed to be in a great mood that night, and it was a good crowd too. There was a built-in table that surrounded the whole stage. That is where I was sitting. People who were sitting there started writing song requests on napkins and passing them up to the bass player to read. After Johnny had done a few requests, I decided this might be my opportunity to hear Leland Mississippi live for the first time in almost ten years. So I handed the request to the bass player, and he whispered in Johnny's ear. Johnny and the bass player went over and talked to the drummer for a while. I don't think they had ever even rehersed that song before as a group, because they talked about it for quite a while. Then Johnny stepped up to the mike and said,"Here's an old one that I haven't played in a long time, called Leland Mississippi."
They played it perfectly, and the crowd went nuts. Johnny's fans are some of the most loyal in the music business. They are mostly old timers who know his music backwards and forwards. I think everyone else was as happy as me to hear that song after such a long time.
Johnny was obviously enjoying himself at this point. I never saw him so happy at a show before or since. At one point someone requested a song, and Johnny and the bass player had another meeting. Then Johnny said into the mike," We've got a song we're gonna do, but I'm going to let my bass player play guitar." Then they switched, and Johnny started playing bass. I believe it was Wipe Out, but they ended up doing three songs that way, if I remember right. They were all laughing and having a blast up there. That was obvious. Anyway, they did do Wipe Out (of all songs for Johnny to play), and they were loving it. The drummer did a solo, and then came out from behind his drumms and started playing his solo on mike stands and anything he could get to. He eventually came to the front of the stage and started drumming on the stage floor and the table that surrounded it. He was right at our place at the table and started playing his solo on our glass ashtray. Butts and ashes were flying everywhere, but that was alright. We didn't care. It was a blast.
It was like they were playing in their own garage. They were really having a ball. Eventually Johnny and the bass player switched back and they went back to playing Johnny's stuff. They played a long time, and did several encores. That crowd just wouldn't let the band get out of there that night. That was one of the best shows I ever saw Johnny put on. He also did "Hustled Down in Texas" off of Second Winter. That is the only time I remember hearing him play that song live. I've never seen Johnny have so much fun as on that night.
saw him a lot of times after that too. I've seen him so many times I really couldn't count them all. Another good show saw I was back in 1985 roughly. That was when he was billed with Edgar's band and The Greg Allman Band. Edgar opened the show, and he was in top form. He almost had a fussion sound mixed in with his past styles. It's obvious that Edgar just keeps studying. Everytime you see him he is better, and introducing new elements into his music.
After Edgar, Greg Allman's band came on. They had Dangerous Dan Toller on lead if I remember right. They had plenty of guitar power to do all of the Allman brothers material. In fact it really sounded more like an Allman Brothers concert. They did Whipping Post, Statesboro Blues, and a lot of other Allman Brothers stuff. Then Johnny came on. He didn't have a bit of trouble topping Edgar and Greg. I really thought there might be a few Greg Allman fans leaving after his show, but that didn't happen. That was one of the best shoes I have ever seen.
I don't know if there are any other Johnny Winter fans out there, (in this newsgroup) but this post is for them.
