Johnny Winter’s version of the Son House classic, “Death Letter”, is the final studio recording from the blues great. The solo, resonator version was captured in one take on February 4th, 2013 and included on his recent album, Step Back.

Step Back, the final studio album from Johnny Winter, earned a career high for the iconic blues guitarist, debuting at #1 on the Independent Album chart, #1 on the Blues chart and #17 on the Billboard Top 200.

Step Back features a host of special guests, including Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry, Dr. John, Leslie West, Brian Setzer and Joe Bonnamassa.

“If there's good people, other good musicians, people enjoy it. I just love it," Winter said. "(Step Back) is just to bring it to the people of today who haven't listened to the old music. It's better than anything they hear today."

Produced by Winter's guitarist, Paul Nelson, Step Back opens with “Unchain My Heart,” which features Winter and his band joined by the Blues Brothers horns. ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons is featured on “Where Can You Be.”
“I never had the opportunity to jam with him (in the Sixties and Seventies),” Gibbons says. “I was content to remain in awe and admiration.”
“If it weren't for Johnny Winter, I would have never picked up the guitar,” adds Aerosmith's Joe Perry, who joins Winter on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Mojo Hand”. Listen to "Mojo Hand" below:

Check out an interview with Paul Nelson at Billboard.com.

Other highlights include Winter's guitar and vocal trade-offs with Harper on Willie Dixon’s “Can’t Hold Out (Talk to Me Baby),” Winter and Clapton’s rendition of Bobby Bland’s “Don’t Want No Woman” and Winter and Dr. John honoring Fats Domino with “Blue Monday.”
“When you hear that sound come out of that Firebird guitar, you know it can be the one and only Johnny Winter,” says Setzer, who is featured on Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “Okie Dokie Stomp".

“As the great blues historian Robert Palmer once bluntly stated, ‘Texas’s blues pedigree is unsurpassed,” writes Brad Tolinski, in the liner notes for the recent career-retrospective boxed set, Johnny Winter: True to the Blues. “But of all of these bright lights, perhaps the most electrifying, exotic and resilient Texas export is a snowy white guitarist from Beaumont, whose truth-is-stranger-than-fiction given name is Winter. For well over five decades, John Dawson “Johnny” Winter III has produced and played on some of the most exciting blues and rock recordings in the history of both genres. His absolute command of tradition al music has earned him the respect of serious musicologists, while his tremendous agility, wicked speed and full-tilt aggression on the electric guitar and acoustic bottleneck has won over several generations of younger rock players looking to cop some the fastest and hottest licks ever committed to tape.”

 

 

Step Back tracklisting:

"Unchain My Heart" - Johnny Winter

"Can't Hold Out (Talk To Me Baby)" - Johnny Winter with Ben Harper

"Don't Want No Woman" - Johnny Winter with Eric Clapton

"Killing Floor" - Johnny Winter with Paul Nelson

"Who Do You Love" - Johnny Winter

"Okie Dokie Stomp" - Johnny Winter with Brian Setzer

"Where Can You Be" - Johnny Winter with Billy Gibbons

"Sweet Sixteen" - Johnny Winter with Joe Bonamassa

"Death Letter" - Johnny Winter

"My Babe" - Johnny Winter with Jason Ricci

"Long Tall Sally" - Johnny Winter with Leslie West

"Mojo Hand" - Johnny Winter with Joe Perry

"Blue Monday" - Johnny Winter with Dr. John

 

 

Johnny Winter passed away on July 16th in his hotel room in Zurich, Switzerland.