Label: Friday Music
Release Date: December 3, 2013
Releases: February 24, 2015 (Friday Music)
Recording Time: 43 minutes
Styles: Modern Electric Blues, Modern Electric Texas Blues, Regional Blues, Slide Guitar Blues, Blues-Rock, Album Rock, Hard Rock, Arena Rock, Boogie Rock, Electric Blues, Guitar Virtuoso, Electric Texas Blues
Just when Johnny Winter's self-curated Live Bootleg series was beginning to sound as if he had come close to the bottom of the barrel, he delivers a set full of gems and jams that reveals there are still plenty of surprises left in his vault. The vintage for this live material is the late 1970s. While the swampy version of Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q" and a super long jam on the Lowell Fulson arrangement of Tampa Red's "Love Her with a Feeling" -- are reason enough for a purchase, the real gems here are the intense readings of Muddy Waters' swaggering "Catfish Blues" and the scorching jump blues take on Sleepy John Estes' "Diving Duck Blues." The latter two tunes put on offer yet again just how authoritative Winter's command of the originals is: he completely transforms them into modern blues rock without sacrificing what made them special in the first place. "One Step at a Time" is a fine live reworking of a studio track that dates back to his earliest demos for Columbia.
by Thom Jurek
For Johnny Winter's Live Bootleg Series Volume 10, the artist surely becomes his instrument in some incredibly guitar shredding live performances. The Blues wielding axeman steps out with super workouts on concert classics like his masterful version of the Dale Hawkins classic 'Suzie Q,' Johnny's own rocker 'One Step At A Time' and a super long jam on Lowell Fulson's 'Love Her With A Feeling.' Always paying homage to his fellow bluesmen, Johnny also dug into his archives for two rare performances of the stellar Muddy Waters classic 'Catfish Blues' and the Jump Blues of Sleepy John Estes' 'Diving Duck Blues.'
Credits: Bob Gruen - cover photo; Tom Guerra - liner notes; John Herdt - layout; Paul Nelson - art direction, executive producer; Joe Reagoso - executive producer, layout, mastering; Johnny Winter - guitar, primary artist, producer, vocals.
Tracks: 1) Introduction; 2) Suzie Q; 3) Diving Duck Blues; 4) Love Her With a Feeling; 5) One Step At a Time; 6) Catfish Blues; 7) Please Come Home For Christmas.