Speaking of whom, Billy Gibbons turns up to provide vocals and a solo on ‘I’m Yours And I’m Hers’, while Derek Trucks is also on hand to add a gutsy slide excursion over the driving rhythm section. It’s a meaty, high-energy blast of blues-rock, first recorded by Johnny in 1968, with a vibe that makes me wonder how much he may have influenced fellow Texans ZZ Top.Įdgar Winter - blowing life into the tribute to his brother Johnny But while much of the material is well known for having been recorded by Johnny Winter, and most of those big-name guests are guitar hotshots like Johnny, it’s worth underlining that it’s very much Edgar Winter who is the glue holding Brother Johnny together.Įdgar’s snarling vocal grabs the attention on the opening ‘Mean Town Blues’ just as much as the turbo-charged riffing, or the wicked slide solo that Joe Bonamassa whacks out over a Diddley-esque rhythmic passage. You get 17 tracks for your spondoolicks, running to 76 minutes – a double album, in old money - and with a stellar cast of guests into the bargain. All I know is he put his whole heart and soul into it, and I am so sad that I never found a way to thank him properly as he so deeply and profoundly deserved.Brother Johnny is a whopper of a tribute album to his sibling from Edgar Winter. I would guess (like most all musicians) Taylor couldn’t help but identify with it. Johnny wrote it around the time of his first rehab, and it expresses feelings almost everyone I know has been through in one way or another. It’s a song about the lure of sex, the danger of drugs, and the Love of Rock ‘n’ Roll. I listened to it last night, and couldn’t help but cry. Most probably all these things - but whatever it was, he gave it His ALL! And Rock HE DID! I don’t know if it was out of respect for Johnny, a desire to help me in what I was doing, compassion for the nature of the project, or his friendship with Ross. He said - I don’t want ANYTHING for doing this, I just want’a get out there and Rock. When I tried to open a business discussion, he simply would not hear of it. That session was an experience I will never forget. I can be very opinionated - but as soon as heard what he was doing, I knew it was best to step back, stay out of the way, and let him do his thing. He had a unique spontaneous style different from anyone I’ve ever worked with before. I had only just met Taylor, and barely got to know him, but I was so impressed by his sincerity, positive energy, and pure enthusiasm. On his website, Edgar wrote about working with Hawkins: Edgar didn’t know Taylor Hawkins before recording a version of Johnny’s 1970 hard rocker “Guess I’ll Go Away,” but producer Ross Hogarth suggested Hawkins as a collaborator, and Hawkins came in to sing on the song. On the LP, Edgar teams up with guests like Ringo Starr, Billy Gibbons, and Michael McDonald to play his brother’s songs. It’s a tribute to Johnny Winter, Edgar’s late brother, who died in 2014 at the age of 70. And now, the blues-rock great Edgar Winter has shared a song that he recorded with Hawkins shortly before Hawkins’ death.Įdgar Winter has recently been working on the album Brother Johnny. After Hawkins’ death, other rock titans like Paul McCartney and Liam Gallagher paid tribute. Like so many other Hawkins performances, that one just radiated joy. The Foo Fighters drummer died suddenly last month at the age of 50, and in the wake of his passing, one of the videos that immediately circulated was a clip of Hawkins singing Queen’s “Somebody To Love” at Lollapalooza Chile, in what would turn out to be his final set with Foo Fighters. One thing about Taylor Hawkins: That guy loved rock ‘n’ roll.
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