Johnny Winter Tickets : Johnny Has Stayed With The Blues That Is His First Musical Love

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer and producer.

Johnny and Edgar Winter were nurtured at an early age by their parents in their musical pursuits. Johnny Winter is known for his southern blues and rock and roll style, as well as his physical appearance. Both he and his brother were born with albinism.In 2003 Winter was ranked 74th in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Johnny Winter began performing at an early age with his younger brother, Edgar Winter. Johnny's first TV appearance was on a local children's television show that aired in Houston and Beaumont markets called the Don Mahoney and Jeana Claire show. Don Mahoney was a blind singing cowboy/kiddie show host in the Houston area for many years and Jeana Claire was his sidekick. Johnny and Edgar appeared on Mahoney's show when they were about ten years old, playing ukelele and singing.

Winter's first Columbia album, Johnny Winter, recorded and released in 1969, featured the same core group called Winter at the time with whom he'd cut The Progressive Blues Experiment, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Uncle John Turner, plus Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone, and blues legends Willie Dixon on upright bass and Walter Horton on harmonica.

The album featured a few selections that would be considered Winter signatures over the coming years, including his own composition "Dallas", John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl," and B.B. King's little-known "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 for the time being, Winter also recorded his second album, Second Winter, this time in Nashville, and unusual for the time in that it was a three-sided album.

In live performances, Winter often tells the story about how, as a child, he dreamed of playing with the blues guitarist Muddy Waters. By 1977 he got his chance. With his manager creating Blue Sky Records to be distributed through Columbia, Winter got the chance to bring Waters into the studio for Hard Again.

The album became a best-seller, with Winter producing and playing support guitar on the set that included Waters veteran James Cotton on harmonica. Winter produced two more studio albums for Waters, I'm Ready and King Bee.

The partnership produced Grammy Awards, a best-selling live album (Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live), and Winter's own Nothin' But the Blues, on which he was backed by members of Waters' band.Winter has since recorded for several labels, including Alligator Records and Point Blank records. He has mostly returned to and stayed with the blues that is his first musical love.

However, from the first time he became a major music star, there appeared several Johnny Winter albums considered "non-official," some of which were cobbled together from the early singles he recorded as a teenager. Most were produced by Roy Ames, owner of Home Cooking Records/Clarity Music Publishing.

According to an article from the Houston Press, Winter left town for the express purpose of getting away from him. Ames died on August 14, 2003 of natural causes at age 66. As Ames left no obvious heirs, the ownership rights of the Ames master recordings remains unclear. As Winter stated in an interview when the subject of Roy Ames came up, "This guy has screwed so many people it makes me mad to even talk about him."