The Johnny Winter Story

Introduction

Ken Ritter, of Frolic and KRCo used Thrill Records after he started wit Comet records. Thrill was started in early 1959 and Ken used this label for rockabilly type of music. Early on Ken Ritter was reluctant to press more than a few dozen at a time, maybe 100 at most. And he was consigning these personally in the Beaumont Texas record stores. and calling weekly to see how sales were doing. Ken Ritter released 5 singles on the Thrill label, one of which was Gene Terry. Ken Ritter "test drove" a few label names early on; Comet (1st), Thrill, KRC0, and finally decided on Frolic, which has several great singles on it. KRCo (Ken Ritter Company) actually had a hit as well, by Lou Smith. Ken Ritter was using Johnny Winter and his bands regularly, as they were local and hungry to work. Even in 1959, Johnny Winter was really motivated to be on anything he could, trying to get "discovered". How Johnny managed to get writing credits AND performance credits on this single just shows how dedicated Johnny was at this early age. Tthe B-side is an instrumental, credited to Johnny Winter as writer and band, as Jerry Jones was a vocalist. So that makes this the real 1st release by Johnny Winter. Maybe only solo on the B-side, but actually on both sides and credited as such. Everything leads to believe this was released in August of 1959, and being that the Andy Charles and the Blues Kings was in November 1959, and the Burl Boykin was in October 1959 (recording session wise), and then the Ronnie Bennett in December of 1959, this has to be the first release Johnny was on.