Johnny Winter

Saw him several times in the mid-70s. Fantastic live. A friend of mine said he saw him in the early 80s with Stevie Ray Vaughn; he was a big SRV fan, but he said Winter just blew him away. He had a sound and style all his own; his Gibson Firebird would be set on Treble/10, Bass/5 ...and he played with a metal thumbpick, which gave him this really unique metallic tone. Good luck naming a white blues guitarist better than Johnny.

Very under rated.Great blues player.In my opinion one of the best axemen alive.

In 1979  the 1st time I saw Johnny he played suse-q and had brought the song to a complete stop....then he started back up again untill his fingers were moving so fast you couldn't believe your eyes.........Then in the mid 80's I watched him play Red House!!!!  He is #1 on my list.. If you need proof .....http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=johnny %20winter%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio

Because he had "rock star" status, Johnny is often not given enough credit as a blues guitarist. Even more appalling is the fact that he is often overlooked as a great guitarist as is evidenced in recent years by some of those "top 100" lists in guitar magazines and the like. Sometimes a little "attitude" may need to be conveyed to make up for some of those other "attitudes" and place him towards the "top of the list" where I think he belongs. In addition to that, he outdoes those other blues players that suffer from "insufficient melanin content" because he is also an albino.

His recorded work is spectacular, LIVE he is even better. I discovered his work on his Alligator LPs and went back and forward to listen to it all. Even if he's not the best (and he might be), he's my favorite.

  Johnny Winter is an excellent blues artist in his own right, and deserves extra kudos for reviving Muddy Waters' carreer in the early '70s. However, he's not the best record producer on the planet 'cause he's much too fond of multi tracking his guitar parts.

Go see him live. You won't be disappointed.

I just saw him live about 8 months ago. FancyNancy is right, he is a living legend! There is an authenticity in his blues playing that certainly no other white guitarist could ever hold a candle to. Even when he was one of the top "rock stars" he was always "true to the blues". I've been a fan for 38 years. I'm surprised no one mentioned his 1991 album "Let Me In". His singing and playing are at their PEAK on this one along with impeccable sound quality. Don't miss it!

One of the best blues guitarist still alive...Catch him if you can-he is a living legend!

Johnny's version of Red House, from the album Live Bootleg Series Vol. 2, is without question, and by an overwhelming margin, and not even remotely close, the greatest blues guitar playing I've ever heard. If you have not heard this version of Red House, you need to hear it, and please do so ASAP. I stumbled onto it myself recently. When I think of how many years I walked around not knowing that such a materpiece even existed, it blows my mind. After you hear Red House, please enter a comment on this blog to report on your impressions of it.   You can find this version of Red House on ITunes.

Along with Mike Bloomfield Johnny Winter is the best white American Blues player. The following Johnny Winter albums are Masterpieces; Still Alive and Well, Second Winter, Saints and Sinners, Johnny Winter, Johnny Winter and..., John Dawson Winter III, and The Progressive Blues Experiment and for a real treat listen to Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield's Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes in which an unknown Johnny Winter lights it up on It's My Own Fault.

Johnny Winter ia a Guitar Legend second to none and this old guy is still cranking it out even in ill health.

Johnny Keep kicking that ass!

You dont think Johhny's the baddest guitar slinger ever? Go out and find STILL ALIVE AND WELL and play it all the way through and get a clue.Brilliant!

I had the pleasure of seeing this dude. 2 yrs ago. I would give away my left nut to have 1/10th of his talent.

JOHNNY'S BACK!!! I just saw Johnny Winter, TONIGHT (1/1/2007) in concert on his first date of his 2007 tour and this man shreaded. I've loved Johnny Winter since the early 70's and I am sad to say that I had almost forgotten about this blues master. I've been playing guitar, full-time professionally for thirty years and after seeing Johnny play tonight I don't feel like ever picking my guitar up again. Yes, I was a little worried when I saw his band walk him out and help him sit down to play. But, once he put his fingers on the strings he was the same Johnny Winter I had always known and loved. Age has taken its toll on his body, but his fingers were lightening fast his lick blisteringly tasteful and when they brought out his legendary Gibson Firebird and pinky slide he WAS in his prime. The man is a master and untouchable as a blues guitarists. Seeing Johnny tonight made Stevie Ray Vaughn (God rest his soul, and he would probably agree with me if he saw Johnny tonight) still in his adolescent days of working towards blues master. Johnny Winter rocked Virginia Beach tonight and defied everything you saw in his diminished physical state. No one can touch Johnny Winter today as a blistering blues guitarist, he was the total master of guitar tonight and created an energy that I've never seen matched by another blues guitarist with the stamina that Johnny possessed tonight.
David Carter - Virginia Beach, VA

Monster player - 'nuff said.

i'm sorry, but isn't johnny winter that albino?

Johnny Winter at his best could play circles around anybody

His command and presence have been reduced due to his health problems of the past ten years, but when this guy was younger, he was truly smokin'. Had a much more genuine feel for the blues genre than any other guitar player of his generation, which gave solid authority to his sound. Great technical skills, outstanding speed, very srticulate. Has displayed mastery of various playing styles. His reputation is that he's better live than on record, but his first album on Columbia is a classic, perhaps the best blues-rock release of all time. Also produced the well-received comeback albums of Muddy Waters in the late 1970s.

Seriously, why is he on this list.

Really good blues player, certainly well above the norm, but his records and his style were really not all that versatile. And, although I wasn't around at the time I get the feeling he was much better live than on record. His albums, while decent, are kinda too similar to each other and not all that impressive. That being said, he could really startle you with his playing despite the relative lack of variation that one does find in, say, a Beck or Page.

Legendary...the author of some of the most compelling electric blues moments ever captured live or recorded. Johnnys stuff will make you yearn for an 11 on your volume dial. A great steward of the blues who introduced Muddy Waters to a whole new generation with some terrific collaborations. Guitar Slinger says it all.