Johnny Winter (Bonus Tracks) (CD, Remastered Album)

When Johnny Winter burst upon the American music scene in the late 1960s, he was initially looked upon as a something of an oddity--an albino guitarist playing and singing the blues--until people actually heard him perform. The Texas native played a sharp, bracing style of (mostly) electric blues with few concessions to rock & roll audiences. His 1969 self-titled debut reveals a fierce talent out to show the world that he could play the blues with the best of them. Inspired by the raw sounds of blues icons Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters (whom he would often work with in the '70s), this set sizzles with passionate, incendiary electric soloing (B.B. King's "Be Careful with a Fool"); slashing, Delta-style acoustic slide guitar (Robert Johnson's "When You Got a Good Friend," the ominous original "Dallas"); and soulful, horn-accented balladry ("Two Steps from the Blues," one of three bonus tracks on this 2004 remastered edition). Winter would go on to record many albums in both blues and rock & roll styles--and play with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, and Sonny Terry--but his first remains one of his finest.