Blues Legend Blues

Last Friday I had a chance to see the Texas albino blues legend Johnny Winter. I had a chance to see him 25 years ago during his Winter of '88 tour and I've got to say, the last twenty five years have not been much good to either one of us. This is not to say that it wasn't a good show. Johnny can still play. It's just that since he is now almost 70 years old, maybe he should be taking it easy.

To his credit, he has put together a first class touring band and booked an excellent opening act, J.B. Soars. This three piece powerhouse from southern Florida was a rocking start to the show. For the last number of their set, the guitarist played a two string guitar that he made with his brother. Amazing how much sound 2 strings can produce with the right application of a slide.

For the main event, Johnny's band came out first and played an opening number before a rather feeble looking Johnny was led on stage. As I said, he's 69 years old, and the bright stage lights must be hard on his albino eyes, but he ripped into Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Good like he was ringing a bell.

What struck me about half way through the concert was that I hadn't heard an original Johnny Winter song. I know through his 40 year career he's written original work but it seems like he prefers doing covers in concert. This is okay with me because he puts his own spin on any song he preforms, but Friday's show was marred by a poor sound mix.  Both Johnny's guitar and vocals were too far back in the mix for my taste.  MJ suggested that perhaps that was by design, to cover for a less than stellar performance. Either way, he had the room rocking and reeling so much so that there were a couple of people who would not stay in their seats, which is always distracting in a small club like the Ramshead Onstage.

An unexpected bonus at this show was that they provided 5x7 black and white pictures of the band which Johnny and the band would sign after the show. Even when MJ and I got to the show, Johnny's trailer was parked outside the venue and people were lined up for signings and a little face time with the legend before the show. Not the kind of one on one you'd expect. A guy who sat at our table that night said he had some pictures signed and that Johnny was very sweet. We didn't stay for the after show festivities because I had to be up early Saturday for my trip to New York, but that'll be the subject for another posting.