Johnny Winter Teams With ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on ‘Where Can You Be’ (Song Premiere) lm.facebook/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.wsj%2Fspeakeasy%2F2014%2F08%2F26%2Fjohnny-winter-teams-with-zz-tops-billy-gibbons-on-where-can-you-be-song-premiere%2F&h=yAQF98Ngy&enc=AZP0n5J3Ufbhf9sbRXE3L5Pv7FqTBVFArP_34wutQ3lUzKckED19hTZdjmvStF29XKAypWkPWuZRRsG58AORVtp_bHGrokVoXEzaaiugrdi_fg&s=1 BILLY GIBBONS BRIAN SETZER DR. JOHN ERIC CLAPTON JOE BONAMASSA JOE PERRY JOHNNY WINTER LESLIE WEST MUSIC JOURNAL ON THE RECORD ZZ TOP By ERIC R. DANTON Johnny Winter Michael Weintrob Though Johnny Winter couldn’t have known it at the time, the album he finished recording earlier this year with a slew of friends including Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer and ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons would become the Texas blues guitarist’s swan song. Winter died in July while on tour in Switzerland. He was 70. Speakeasy today premieres “Where Can You Be,” featuring Gibbons on guitar. The song is a propulsive 12-bar blues number, interspersing Winter’s smooth vocals with eruptions of super-charged electric guitar as he and Gibbons trade licks that start hot and build to incendiary by the time they wrap up four minutes later. In a statement to Speakeasy, Gibbons praises the guitarist’s “Winterexpressiveness,” which he described as “his technical six-string prowess as well as a distinctive singing style that reflected more blues than one might expect from a very light-skinned albino.” The bond between Winter and Gibbons went back decades, says Paul Nelson, Winter’s manager, producer and guitarist. “Johnny was a big fan of Billy’s and visa versa,” Nelson says. “We were doing a rock cruise with our band and ZZ Top and Billy came down to hang in Johnny’s cabin and they talked like best of friends for hours. Nothing but respect in the room.” More In On the Record Johnny Winter Teams With ZZ Tops Billy Gibbons on Where Can You Be (Song Premiere) Loudon Wainwright III Branches Out on Havent Got the Blues (Yet) (Exclusive Album Premiere) The Bad Plus Call Their Own Tune on Inevitable Western (Exclusive Album Premiere) Sondre Lerche Plays Bad Law for Kindergartners (Exclusive Video Premiere) Nicole Atkins Covers Bruce Springsteens Dancing in the Dark (Exclusive Song Premiere) Gibbons recalls first seeing Winter play in the late ’60s, “flanked by two dancing beauties” in the “go-go window” of a Houston club, the long-since defunct Act III. “Johnny’s gleaming white guitar and snow-white hair were nothing short of intriguing, adding that unique appearance to his infectious vocalizing and guitar slinging,” Gibbons says. Later, after Winter heard ZZ Top’s song “Just Got Paid” (from their 1971 album “Rio Grande Mud”), he invited the band to come hang out. “It was a pivotal moment to actually solidify an enduring friendship between the ZZ Top and Johnny Winter outfits,” Gibbons says. He describes their friendship as “a long lasting, good-time, blues-infused bond. Thick as thieves and tight as nails.” Winter’s final studio album, “Step Back,” also includes contributions from Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, Dr. John, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie West and Nelson, who says “Where Can You Be” “is one of Johnny’s greatest performances, both vocally and slide guitar-wise, in years.” “Step Back” is due Sept. 2 on Megaforce Records. What do you think of “Where Can You Be?” Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:36:25 +0000
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