Johnny Winter, along with his brother Edgar Winter, were nurtured at an early age by their parents in musical pursuits. Both he and his brother, who were born with albinism, began performing at an early age. When he was ten-years old, Winter appeared on a local children's show, playing ukelele and singing Everly Brothers songs with his brother.
His recording career began at the age of fifteen, when his band Johnny and the Jammers released "School Day Blues" on a Houston record label. During this same period, he was able to see performances by classic blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Bobby Bland. In the early days Winter would sometimes sit in with Roy Head and The Traits when they performed in the Beaumont, Texas area, and in 1967, Winter recorded a single with The Traits: "Tramp" backed with "Parchman Farm" (Universal Records 30496). In 1968, he released his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment, on Austin's Sonobeat Records.
Winter caught his biggest break in December 1968, when Mike Bloomfield, whom he met and jammed with in Chicago, invited him to sing and play a song during a Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore East in New York. As it happened, representatives of Columbia Records (which had released the Top Ten Bloomfield/Kooper Super Session album) were at the concert. Winter played and sang B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" to loud applause and, within a few days, was signed to reportedly what was then the largest advance in the history of the recording industry–$600,000.
Winter's first Columbia album, Johnny Winter was recorded and released in 1969. It featured the same backing musicians with whom he recorded The Progressive Blues Experiment, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Uncle John Turner, plus Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone, and (for his "Mean Mistreater") blues legends Willie Dixon on upright bass and Big Walter Horton on harmonica. The album featured a few selections that became Winter signature songs, including his composition "Dallas" (an acoustic blues, on which Winter played a steel-bodied, resonator guitar), John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl", and B.B. King's "Be Careful With A Fool".
The album's success coincided with Imperial Records picking up The Progressive Blues Experiment for wider release. The same year, the Winter trio toured and performed at several rock festivals, including Woodstock. With brother Edgar added as a full member of the group, Winter also recorded his second album, Second Winter in Nashville in 1969. 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".
In 1984, Winter began recording for several labels, including Alligator Records and Point Blank Records, where he has focused on blues-oriented material. He continues to perform live, including festivals throughout North America and Europe. Winter has headlined such prestigious events as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Swedish Rock Fest, Warren Haynes X-mas jam, and Europe’s Rockpalast. He also performed with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan on the 40th anniversary of their debut. In 2007 and 2010, Winter performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festivals. Two guitar instructional DVDs have been produced by Cherry Lane Music and the Hal Leonard Corporation. The Gibson Guitar Company released the signature Johnny Winter Firebird guitar in a ceremony in Nashville with Slash presenting.
In 2004, Winter received a Grammy nomination for his I’m a Bluesman album. Backing him are guitarist Paul Nelson, bassist Scott Spray, and drummer Vito Liuzzi. Beginning in 2007, a series of live Winter albums titled the Live Bootleg Series and a live DVD have all entered the Top 10 Billboard Blues charts. In 2009, The Woodstock Experience album was released, which includes eight songs that Winter performed at the 1969 festival. Johnny Winter is signed to Megaforce Records, who will release a new studio album titled Roots on September 27, 2011. It will include Winter's interpretation of eleven early blues and rock 'n' roll classics and feature several guest artists.
Winter produced three Grammy Award-winning albums by Muddy Waters, Hard Again (1977), I'm Ready (1978), and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live (1979). Several Winter albums were also nominated for Grammy Awards. In 1980, Winter was on the cover of the first issue of Guitar World and in 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
Stranger Blues
Johnny Winter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well, I'm a stranger here and I just blowed in your town
Just because I'm a stranger everybody wants to dog me around
Well, I'm going back now south, if I have wear ninety nine pair of shoes
Well, I'm going back now south, if I have wear ninety nine pair of shoes
Then I won't be no more stranger, I won't have no more stranger's blues
Well, sometime I wonder, do my good gal know I'm here?
Well, if she do, she sure don't seem to care, don't seem to care
The lyrics of the Johnny Winter song "Stranger Blues" are a reflection of the feelings of someone who finds themselves in a new town, where they are perceived as an outsider. The opening lines, "Well, I'm a stranger here and I just blowed in your town," set the tone for the entire song. The artist is expressing his frustration over the fact that people judge him for being a stranger, and how they treat him as a result. The lyrics illustrate that the artist feels alienated, unwanted and mistreated, simply because he is not known in that particular place.
The second verse illustrates the artist's desire to return to where he is more familiar and accepted. When he states " Well, I'm going back now south if I have wear ninety nine pair of shoes", he's expressing his need to go back to his own world, where his identity is not questioned simply because he's not known, and where he does not feel like an outsider. He is returning to a place where he can be himself. In the final verse, the artist wonders if his good gal even knows he is there, and if she does, she doesn't seem to care, highlighting the loneliness he feels as a stranger in a strange place.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I'm a stranger here and I just blowed in your town
As an outsider, I recently arrived in your place.
Just because I'm a stranger everybody wants to dog me around
Merely because I am new here, everyone treats me unkindly.
Well, I'm going back now south, if I have wear ninety nine pair of shoes
Even if I have to walk barefoot, I am determined to return to my homeland.
Then I won't be no more stranger, I won't have no more stranger's blues
Once I'm back to where I belong, I won't feel alienated or lonely anymore.
Well, sometime I wonder, do my good gal know I'm here?
Occasionally, I worry if my girlfriend is aware of my presence in this new place.
Well, if she do, she sure don't seem to care, don't seem to care
Even if she knows, it doesn't seem like she is concerned or interested in my situation.
Lyrics © ACORN PUBLISHING
Written by: ELMORE JAMES, MARSHALL E SEHORN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@barrydaws4602
None better, the wizard on slide, that amazing voice. I have been so lucky to see this amazing phenomenon of nature half a dozen times in my life
@JohnDoe-jp8fx
Same! The king.
@rettersp
I was a kid watching TV in the 80's in Chile and a Johnny Winter live performance was the first guitar player that blew my mind, as I remember.
@GTX1123
Johnny Winter - The absolute, undisputed master of slide on a Gibson Firebird.
@billridge7854
Feel like a kid on a
Super Slide woo-hoo
@thomashontanx903
I’m 27, born in 96, my uncle shared this with me, I just started to play guitar again.
It’s so amazing I am fascinated
@jchow5966
I saw him play this song live -just like thus. The whole show was amazing - i had never seen JW before & i did not want the show to end. RIP JW!
@taavosults2815
His three piece bands always high-lighted top end players. There was never a slug in those trios. Johnny was a smart man. And he surrounded himself with virtuosos.Without exception, his bandmates were all exceptional players.
@thmsdnvn0
These videos are all we have left now. We'll never forget you Johnny!
@sandragriffiths9692
And great memories. I was lucky enough to see him on the same bill as the wonderful Taj Mahal in the 60's in Croydon England. Amazing, I have never forgotten them.