Johnny Winter
Blues by an expert.
A Texas sensation.
Red hot blues
Mid-summer 1968. Austin, Texas. It was already hot as the blazes. And then Johnny Winter crashed the local music scene with his electrifying brand of southern blues-rock. Suddenly Austin was blistering hot. At 24, Johnny already was a seasoned veteran of the southern roadhouse, honky tonk, dance hall, and dive circuit and soon would be on his way to major auditoriums, like the Fillmore East in New York, where he would perform in January ’69. Based out of Houston, Johnny and band toured from an old black hearse, making an indelible impression wherever they performed – three white guys playing traditionally black music with a vengeance. The trio – Johnny on guitars, mouth harp, and vocals; Uncle John “Red” Turner on drums; Tommy Shannon on bass – stormed Austin’s hottest music venue, The Vulcan Gas CompanyThe Vulcan was Austin’s first successful hippie music hall, opening in 1967 in an old warehouse at 316 Congress Avenue and closing in 1970. Its better known successor was Armadillo World Headquarters., with a series of shows that left the audience of hippies and hip college students stunned and screaming for more. They’d never seen or heard anything quite like Winter before. Little did they know...
Sonobeat Artists
Johnny Winter
Introductions
Just as Johnny was arriving on The Vulcan Gas Company scene, Austin-based Sonobeat Records was finishing up recording sessions with The Conqueroo, the de facto Vulcan house band. On August 2nd, a hot and sticky Friday night, Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. stopped by the Vulcan expecting to see The Conqueroo perform, but, instead, an unfamiliar act, Johnny’s trio, was on stage playing to a packed house. Bill Sr. came away wowed. The next day, he ran into Johnny at Austin head shop Underground City Hall, where Johnny was purchasing a pair of sandals. The two struck up a conversation about Johnny’s Vulcan show the night before, which led to setting a date for a Sonobeat recording session and, as they say, the rest is history.
It was in August, 1968, on a Friday evening, that I saw an albino guitarist on stage [at the Vulcan] I could not believe. I called [Sonobeat co-founder] Rim [Kelley] and told him to come down, and he said, ’If you can sign him up, sign him up, because he’s one of the greatest guitarists I’ve ever heard’.”
The 45 RPM stereo single
Initially, Sonobeat elected to record and release a stereo 45 RPM single by the group, but Johnny had a wealth of material, both originals and covers, so the sessions weren’t strictly limited to recording two songs that would make up a single. The Joseys and Johnny would choose, later, which songs would be featured on the single.
To capture Johnny’s “guttural, edgy” sound (as CREEM Magazine writer Lester Bangs described it), Sonobeat recorded the Winter trio at The Vulcan, where they could play at full performance volume. Although the resulting tracks have a distinctive live sound, raw and primal, they were recorded during daylight hours, when The Vulcan was closed. On August 18, 1968 (a Sunday), and again the following day, with Uncle John’s drum kit on the Vulcan’s raised stage and Johnny’s and Tommy’s guitar amps on the dance floor, Sonobeat co-founder and producer Rim Kelley“Rim Kelley” was the pseudonym used by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr. as a radio deejay in Austin, Texas, during the 1960s and as a Sonobeat producer from 1967 to 1970. used only half a dozen dynamic and two condenser microphones to cover the band. An additional mike, set up at the back of the hall, captured The Vulcan’s cavernous acoustics (owing to the giant empty cistern under The Vulcan’s floor). To set the mood, Vulcan Gas Company artist-in-residence Jim Franklin set up a pulsating liquid light showPut water and colored oils in a small glass tray, add heat and an overhead projector, and you get a kinetic visual experience that plays well with hallucinogens.. Although The Vulcan sessions weren’t recorded before a live audience, they were mixed “live”; that is, the instrumental tracks were mixed at the same time as recorded to a quarter-inch 2-track Ampex 354 tape deck through Sonobeat’s custom 10-input portable stereo recording console, and, therefore, could not be remixed. The vocals were overdubbed later in the same sessions by combining the instrumental track playback from one Ampex taoe deck with Johnny’s vocal overdubs to another Ampex. The Vulcan sessions yielded eight electrified and electrifying tracks on which Johnny played a 12-string Gibson Firebird V-12, from which he’d removed six strings, and a Fender Mustang.
Sonobeat knew even before it began the Winter sessions that it would issue a stereo 45 RPM single, so it commissioned legendary Austin music photographer Burton Wilson to attend the second session, on August 19th, to photograph Johnny and the band. Burton’s photos, some candid and some staged, ended up on both the Sonobeat single’s sleeve and, later, the jacket of the Imperial Records release of Sonobeat’s Johnny Winter album.
A week after The Vulcan sessions, Sonobeat recorded two acoustic tracks – featuring Johnny alone – in the cozy comfort of the Josey family living room in northwest Austin. Johnny multi-tracked National steel standard guitar, mandolin, mouth harp, and vocals on Sonobeat’s brand new half-inch 4-track Scully 280 recorder, which had been delivered to the Joseys too late to set up for Johnny’s Vulcan sessions. There was noticeably greater clarity in Johnny’s solo acoustic recordings, and, for a more intimate effect, they were mixed with shallow reverb.
Initially, in September 1968, Sonobeat released a Winter 45 RPM single featuring a high energy performance of McKinley Morgenfield’s Rollin’ and Tumblin’ (“A” side) and the guitar tour de force Mean Town Blues (“B” side), written by Johnny. The single was packaged in a black and white picture sleeve designed by producer Rim Kelley and featuring an appropriately stark photo of Johnny taken by Burton Wilson. An alternate, two-sided sleeve used film strips from Burton’s photo shoot for the backside of the single sleeve that appeared on as few as 100 copies of the single. Although Rim has no recollection of designing it, the Sonobeat archives include the black and white contact sheet that was used to create the backside of the ultra-rare alternate sleeve.
I wrote Mean Town Blues in Dallas, but we recorded it when we moved to Austin. Austin was an amazing place at that point. There was a lot of music and psychedelic drugs. It was like San Francisco in Texas. I loved it. And I had big aspirations. I was trying to make it really hard, no question. And there’s no question I learned a lot of what I’d later do in Austin.”
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Recording and release details
45 RPM stereo single
“A” side: Rollin’ and Tumblin’ (McKinley Morgenfield professionally known as Muddy Waters) • 2:25
“B” side: Mean Town Blues (Johnny Winter) • 2:17
Catalog number: R-s107
Single- and double-sided black and white picture sleeve with photos by Burton Wilson
Released week of September 2, 1968*
*Release date is approximated using best information available from the Sonobeat archives and public records
Produced and engineered by Rim Kelley
Co-produced by Bill Josey Sr. (uncredited)
Recorded at The Vulcan Gas Company, Austin, Texas, on August 18, 1968
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice 665 dynamic and ElectroVoice SlimAir 636 dynamic microphones
- Ampex 354 quarter-inch 2-track tape deck
- Custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer
- 3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock
Between 1,000 and 1,500 copies pressed
Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Label blanks and picture sleeve printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
In the dead wax...
- Rollin’ and Tumblin’: SJW-10863<< /li>
- Mean Town Blues: SJW-10863
- “SJW” in the matrix number identifies Sidney J. Wakefield & Company as the lacquer mastering and record pressing plant
The album
The August ’68 sessions with Johnny provided plenty of completed tracks from which the Sonobeat single was pulled. Only weeks after releasing the single, Sonobeat issued a limited edition white jacket advance pressing album consisting of ten tracks, including the two recorded at the Josey family home. Bill Josey Sr. named the album The Progressive Blues Experiment, inspired by his belief that Johnny’s music was blues-rock’s answer to the progressive rock movement that emerged at the end of the ’60s. The album tracks were culled from dozens of alternate takes and false starts; five tracks were original Winter compositions and five were covers. Sonobeat’s advance pressings were used to get early radio airplay and reviews and to market its recordings to larger national labels.
After recording the album, in October ’68 Johnny made a trip to the U.K. to check out its music scene. There he was introduced to the Vernon brothers who owned a young but successful London-based blues specialty label, Blue Horizon Records. Johnny played the Sonobeat album for the Vernons, and by November, Sonobeat had entered into negotiations to license The Progressive Blues Experiment to Blue Horizon for distribution in the U.K., Europe, and Canada. By the time Johnny returned to the U.S. in early December, a Rolling Stone magazine article by Larry Sepulvado and John Burks, proclaiming Johnny one of the hottest blues performers out of Texas, changed everything: wooed to New York by Steve Paul, owner of hot Manhattan nightclub Scene, Johnny signed a six-hundred thousand dollar contract with Columbia Records, the largest advance the label had ever given any artist at the time, who rushed him into its Nashville studios to cut an album in January ’69.
On the heels of the Rolling Stone article, Winter performed at San Francisco’s Fillmore West rock ’n’ roll music venue in a performance attended by Los Angeles-based Liberty Records execs, who wanted to see and hear firsthand what all the Johnny Winter commotion was about. In a frantic conversation with Johnny following the performance, the Liberty execs learned that Johnny already had an album “in the can”, got details, including Sonobeat’s Austin phone number, and immediately called Bill Josey Sr. to open negotiations. Bill Sr. put the Blue Horizon discussions on hold and, as Christmas week 1968 began, airmailed numbered copy #48 of the album advance pressing to Liberty’s Bud Dain and Eli Bird along with a short cover letter. From there, things moved lightning fast because Liberty was afraid they might lose the album: Eli called Bill Sr. on Friday, December 27th, to make what he hoped would be a preemptive offer. By January 15, 1969, after several negotiation phone calls, a deal was agreed and Bud and Eli ordered Liberty’s legal department to rush out a contract. Within little more than a week the contract was reviewed, negotiated, and signed. Immediately on closing the sale of The Progressive Blues Experiment to Liberty, Sonobeat ceased distribution of its Winter single (which featured two tracks from the album) and terminated negotiations with Blue Horizon. The Liberty deal done, the Joseys drove 1,400 miles to Los Angeles to hand deliver the master tapes to Liberty’s execs. The week of March 10, 1969, Liberty released the Sonobeat-produced album on its Imperial label (as LP-12431), beating Johnny’s Columbia debut album to market by two weeks. Thus, the Sonobeat album holds the distinction of being both the first Winter album recorded and the first released.
The trio
- Tommy Shannon (bass)
- Uncle John “Red” Turner (drums)
- Johnny Winter (guitars, mandolin, mouth harp, and vocals)
The Progressive Blues Experiment
Sonobeat Advance Pressing
Recording and Release Details
33-1/3 RPM advance pressing stereo album
The Progressive Blues Experiment
Catalog number: R-s1002
Plain white jacket rubber stamped (clockwise, from top left, in each corner) with The Progressive Blues Experiment, Johnny Winter, Advance Copy, and Sonobeat Stereo; most copies hand numbered immediately below the Advance Copy legend; all copies individually numbered and signed by Johnny Winter
Issued week of September 23, 1968*
*Release date is approximated using best information available from the Sonobeat archives and public records
Advance pressing anticipating commercial release on the Sonobeat label; a limited number offered for sale at Austin-area record stores
First half:
- Rollin’ and Tumblin’ (McKinley Morgenfield professionally known as Muddy Waters) • 3:09
- Tribute to Muddy (Johnny Winter) • 6:20
- Got Love If You Want It (James Moore professionally known as Slim Harpo) • 3:52
- Bad Luck and Trouble (Johnny Winter) • 3:43
- Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson-Ralph Bass) • 3:46
Second half:
- Mean Town Blues (Johnny Winter) • 4:26
- Broke Down Engine (Blind Willie McTell) • 3:25
- Black Cat Bone (Johnny Winter) • 3:46 It’s My Own Fault (B.B. King & Jules Josea) • 7:20
- Forty-Four (Roosevelt Sykes*) • 3:28
**Imperial Records credited Forty-Four to C. Burnett, professionally known as Howlin’ Wolf.
Produced by Bill Josey and Rim Kelley
Engineered by Rim Kelley
Recorded at The Vulcan Gas Company, Austin, Texas, on August 18 and 19, 1968
Bad Luck and Trouble and Broke Down Engine recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on September 1, 1968
Recorded using...
- ElectroVoice 665 dynamic, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic, and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones
- Scully 280 half-inch 4-track, Ampex 350 quarter-inch 2-track, and Ampex AG-350 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks
- Custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer
- Custom steel plate stereo reverb
- 3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock
Approximately 105-110 copies manufactured
Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
In the dead wax...
- First half: SJW-10893 R-s1002 A
- Second half: SJW-10893 R-s1002 B
- “SJW” in the matrix number identifies Sidney J. Wakefield & Company as the lacquer mastering and pressing plant
My dad [Bill Josey Sr.], Johnny Winter, and I sat in my dad’s white T-bird ... as I passed Johnny numbered white albums to autograph. So the scene I remember is my dad telling Johnny what to write on each of the albums.”
The Progressive Blues Experiment
Imperial Records Commercial Release Details
33-1/3 RPM commercial release album
The Progressive Blues Experiment
Catalog number: LP-12431
Four-color jacket
Released
First half:
- Rollin’ and Tumblin’ (McKinley Morgenfield professionally known as Muddy Waters) • 3:09
- Tribute to Muddy (Johnny Winter) • 6:20
- Got Love If You Want It (James Moore professionally known as Slim Harpo) • 3:52
- Bad Luck and Trouble (Johnny Winter) • 3:43
- Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson-Ralph Bass) • 3:46
Second half:
- Mean Town Blues (Johnny Winter) • 4:26
- Broke Down Engine (Blind Willie McTell) • 3:25
- Black Cat Bone (Johnny Winter) • 3:46 It’s My Own Fault (B.B. King & Jules Josea) • 7:20
- Forty-Four (Roosevelt Sykes*) • 3:28
&Sonobeat credited Forty-Four to Roosevelt Sykes
Producers: Bill Josey and Rim Kelley
A Sonobeat Production for Liberty Records, Inc.
Engineer: Rim Kelley
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Design: Ron Wolin
Photography: Burton Wilson
Recorded at Vulcan Gas Company, Austin, Texas
Album co-producer Bill Josey Sr. summarized in his original 1969 album liner notes precisely what made Johnny’s The Progressive Blues Experiment a seminal work that would become as legendary as the great albino bluesman himself: “Winter is hard and heavy in his hypnotic blues bag. Before the recording session, there was Johnny Winter and his guitar. During the session, Johnny became the guitar.” To this day, The Progressive Blues Experiment is considered by blues aficionados and critics alike as one of Johnny Winter’s finest works.
Liberty Records, parent of Imperial Records, merged with United Artists Records in 1969; in 1973, United Artists reissued The Progressive Blues Experiment with new cover art under the title Austin, Texas. There have been multiple re-issues on CD, including a sort-of 30th anniversary edition released in 1999 on the Razor & Tie label; that release reinstated the original title and cover design. In 1979, EMI acquired United Artists Records (including its Liberty and Imperial labels), and EMI’s Capitol Records subsidiary created a 24-bit digital master for a spectacular 2005 CD reissue. The Progressive Blues Experiment is available worldwide on all major digital download and streaming platforms.
Johnny Winter doesn’t mess around. He plays a mean, fluid, slicing, scuttling blues guitar fueled by a sense of primal drive that somehow reaches all the way back to the earliest moans and unites them with the hardware of the Seventies in a unified musical entity, diverse in its source but poised to attack.”
Following his work on The Progressive Blues Experiment and Johnny’s first two Columbia albums, drummer Uncle John Turner formed seminal Austin band Krackerjack with former Winter bandmate Tommy Shannon and then-newcomer Stevie Ray Vaughn. Uncle John remained a major force in Austin’ss blues scene for four decades. Uncle John succumbed on July 26, 2007, to complications relating to hepatitis C and was posthumously inducted in the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2008.
Johnny produced three Grammy-winning blues albums – spanning 1977 to 1979 – with his muse, Muddy Waters. He was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1985, and, in 1988, into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-African-American so inducted. On July 16, 2014, fans around the world mourned his death, which occurred during his European tour. Johnny left a legacy of great blues recordings spanning an almost 50 year musical career.
Tommy Shannon was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1996 and, in 2015, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Progressive Blues Experiment
Capitol Records’ 2005 digital reissue of the 1969 album
Restored and remastered from the original analog session master tape
Listen!
Additional Reviews and Press Coverage
5-star customer ratings on Apple Music: “The sound on this remastering is superb, the performance unrivaled.” “One of the greatest blues albums of its time.” “This is THE Johnny Winter album for me!”
“This album was recorded for a small Texas label (Sonobeat) some time before anyone thought about [Winter’s] pop potential. Exploitation albums such as this are generally poor quality (as in Capitol’s early Jimi Hendrix product or Mainstream’s Big Brother records), but this is a happy exception. It is recorded well and captures some exciting performances of largely traditional material.”
“There’s an urgency and bite to every track... As an electric guitarist, Winter is explosive, fluid, percussive, and driving...”
"“The Progressive Blues Experiment is a dense, rocking, concentrated barrage of kamikaze exercises in rocking blues and bluesy rock. The Progressive Blues Experiment was actually a better album than Johnny Winter [Johnny’s first Columbia album].”
“A true classic, this is one dirty, dangerous, and visionary album.”
“This is killer white boy blues beyond compare.”
“The all-time classic Black Cat Bone is one of the very best versions I have ever heard. [Johnny] does it with all the heart and soul one person could possibly muster.”
“More than three decades after its release, The Progressive Blues Experiment remains one of Johnny Winter’s most innovative albums. Although he has achieved great success throughout his career, The Progressive Blues Experiment will continue to be remembered as one of Winter’s most memorable accomplishments.”
“The funny thing is, The Progressive Blues Experiment is about ten thousand times better than Johnny’s major-label debut, exhibiting a raw vitality almost completely missing from the CBS album. From the get go, the excitement never lets up. On the opening cut, a screaming high-octane version of blues standard Rollin’ and Tumblin’, Johnny and the boys are white hot, and Johnny’s licks have to be heard to be believed. You’ve barely had time to catch your breath when along comes Tribute to Muddy, a rootsy salutation to Johnny’s muse Muddy Waters... For maniacs like us, reveling in our fandom, The Progressive Blues Experiment, every raw, electric, compelling second of it, is a guilty pleasure we’ll know we’ll never outgrow.”
Take your pick of a dozen blues aficionados’ reviews at RateYourMusic.
“Winter was a genuine phenomenon: a blazing, melodically articulate soloist with a howling, pitted voice that caught the raw urgency of songs like ... Mean Town Blues, from his blistering 1968 independent-label debut, The Progressive Blues Experiment.”