Johnny Winter - Step Back

Winter's posthumous swan song featuring Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Brian Setzer, more!

"He left on a high note." That's producer Paul Nelson's assessment of Johnny Winter's Step Back, the blues giant's posthumous swan song, writes Edna Gundersen for USA Today. Step Back, the sequel to 2011's Roots and second of four planned collections of early blues and rock interpretations, was completed shortly before Winter died at 70 on July 16.

The 13-track set pairs Winter with such admirers as Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Joe Perry, Dr. John, Brian Setzer and Jason Ricci.

With Little Richard's Long Tall Sally (featuring Leslie West) and Chuck Berry's Sweet Sixteen (Joe Bonamassa), Step Back "took a more aggressive turn into his early rock roots," says Nelson, who produced the disc and collaborates on Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor. "Everything was done in one take, no editing. He would 'Winterize' each song. The minute he put his voice and playing on it, it became his."

The album reflects the legend's gifts as a blues prodigy.

"When you listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan, you hear specific influences," says Nelson, Winter's longtime guitarist, friend and producer. "When you hear Johnny, you think, 'I can't figure out who he sounds like.' He's 50 guitar players in one. He's not just a little bit of Son House, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. He absorbs entire genres. Nobody can pinpoint his influences."

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."

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."