By the end of the 1970s, blues-rock guitarist Johnny Winter's commercial fortunes had waned. It had been a tumultuous decade for the fiery guitarslinger from Texas – rapid stardom in the wake of his acclaimed 1969 debut album, festival headlining slots, addiction, and depression. But the years had their high points as well, Winter working with one of his blues heroes in Muddy Waters, producing a brace of critically and commercially successful albums that reinvigorated the career of the Chicago blues giant.
After Winter's 1980 album Raisin' Cain failed to chart, and he was dropped from his CBS Records contract, the artist was looking to begin writing his own second chapter. He found help in the form of Bruce Iglauer and Alligator Records, who signed the guitarist for a trio of albums that would put Winter back on the blues path he continues to walk today. Beginning with 1984's Guitar Slinger and carrying on with the following year's Serious Business, Winter finished his evolution into a complete bluesman with 1986's 3rd Degree, his last album for Alligator and one of the best in a catalog ripe with great recordings.
Johnny Winter's 3rd Degree
Winter had decided to expand his sound somewhat for 3rd Degree, bringing in his old friend Dr. John to add keyboards to a couple of songs. Even more importantly, Winter challenged himself with the addition of an acoustic National Steel guitar to the mix. Figuring that the early blues masters hadn't had the luxury of the electric guitar to create their sound, Winter taught himself the nuances of the National Steel, a move that pays off in spades on 3rd Degree.
Blues-rock guitarist Johnny Winter
Photo courtesy Alligator RecordsThe album kicks off with the J.B. Lenoir blues romp "Mojo Boogie," an electric and electrifying up-tempo houserocker that benefits from Winter's growling vocal style and raging fretwork. With bandmates bassist Johnny Gayden and drummer Casey Jones delivering a solid shuffling rhythm behind him, Winter proceeds to tear the joint up with stinging leads and raucous rhythms. The slow-paced Willie Dixon/Henry Glover song "Love, Life and Money" benefits from Dr. John's attentions; his New Orleans-flavored keyboards compliment Winter's mournful vocals and the crying guitarplay that blankets the instrumentation.
Evil On My Mind
Winter breaks out the National Steel with his original "Evil On My Mind," one of the best blues songs the guitarist has penned, before or since. Cranking out some nasty slide on the acoustic box, Winter roars his vocals over his Delta-drenched picking, nimble fingers delivering a complex and textured performance. The title track is a Chicago-blues styled rave-up, Winter showing off some tricks he no doubt nicked from Waters back in the day. Above Ken Saydak's Otis Spann-influenced pianoplay, Winter masterfully belts out Willie Dixon's lyrics while tearing and tugging at his strings like a madman caged.
Winter reunites with his original band members Tommy Shannon (bass) and Uncle John Turner (drums) for the first time in almost 16 years for a trio of songs that are among the best on 3rd Degree. Displaying the same sort of fiery passion that brought him out of Texas nearly 20 years previous, the original Johnny Winter band cranks through the Freddie King classic "See See Baby" with reckless aplomb, Winter's scorching fretwork combined with Shannon's rolling bass line and Turner's explosive drumbeats. While the original "Broke and Lonely" revisits Winter's roots-rock roots with a bit of twang and no little energy, the trio's cover of Elmore James' "Shake Your Moneymaker" is every bit as dynamic as one may expect, Winter's greasy slidework on the National Steel adding fire to Shannon and Turner's locomotive rhythm.
The Reverend's Bottom Line
Three albums into his tenure with Alligator Records, Winter delivered a tour de force in 3rd Degree that harkens back to the late-1960s/early-1970s glory days of Second Winter and Still Alive and Well. Mixing up well-chosen covers with a handful of original songs, Winter and both of his trios breathe fire and rain brimstone into these performances, resulting in one of the two or three best albums of the guitarist's lengthy career. If you're looking for a raucous blues-rock experience to get yer ya-ya's out, look no further than Johnny Winter's 3rd Degree! (Alligator Records, released 1986)
