Johnny Winter I'm A Bluesman CD

Personnel: Johnny Winter (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar); Johnny Winter; Paul Nelson (guitar); Paul Nelson (electric guitar); Reese Wynans (keyboards); Tom MacDonald, Scott Spray, Brad Hallen (electric bass); Scott Spray (bass guitar); Tom Hambridge (drums, percussion, background vocals); Wayne June (drums); James Montgomery (harmonica).
Audio Mixers: Dick Shurman; Tom Hambridge; David Axelbaum; Ducky Carlisle.
Recording information: Carriage House, Stamford, CT; Room 9 From Outer Space, South Boston, MA.
Editor: Scott Baggett.
Photographer: Ken Schles.
Yes, he's a bluesman -- has anyone at all familiar with Johnny Winter ever thought anything else? But his first album of new material in almost eight years was certainly very much in the straightforward blues-rock mold, emphasis on the "blues" over "rock." There was nothing to either disappoint longtime fans or excite the unconverted, as it was about exactly the set you'd expect from Winter, setting energetic if predictably formatted material to solid electric blues arrangements. His accomplished guitar playing sometimes bore a tarter tone than some of his past recordings, and his vocals as always were not as impressive as his axe work, though they were serviceable. The songs were a mixture of originals, contributions from past and present sidemen and producer Tom Hambridge, and covers of Lazy Lester's "Sugar Coated Love" and Hop Wilson's "That Wouldn't Satisfy." Although this is acceptably competent, good-natured blues-rock, it's the acoustic "That Wouldn't Satisfy" that provides the most inspired moments. Winter's slide guitar on this track is superb, whetting one's appetite for an entire album of such outings should he ever be in the mood to go unplugged. ~ Richie Unterberger
On guitar-slinger Johnny Winter's 2004 outing, I'M A BLUESMAN, his spicy style of playing keeps with a legacy dating back to the late 1960s, when he was playing on the club circuit of tiny Beaumont, Texas. Tapping Roy Buchanan/Albert Collins producer Dick Shurman to man the console, Winter wisely brings his touring band into the studio with him.
Although the albino axe-wielder's guitar tone sounds oddly compressed, his still-impressive playing does much to dispel any distractions. Such is the case when the sixtysomething Texan plays the spurned-lover card, be it on the organ-soaked howler "Cheatin' Blues" or the subtler, but no less suspicious, "I Smell Smoke." Despite nearly being eligible for Social Security, the rail-thin Winter still opens it up, as evidenced by the howling and crackling slide guitar adorning "Lone Wolf" and the equally tempestuous stomper "Sweet Little Baby." Winter also tips his Stetson to Lazy Lester and Hop Wilson with the former's "Sugar Coated Love," served up as a snappy, mid-tempo shuffle, and the latter's "That Wouldn't Satisfy," cast as a mournful, acoustic steel-guitar lament.