Johnny Winter in 1977

Johnny Winter Timeline 1977

After playing "Rock and Roll" for several years, in 1977 Johnny Winter returns to his musical roots: playing the real blues. His stage shows become calmer; he ceased to jump around from one side of the stage to the other; while playing rough guitar riffs. Now he remains seated, close to the mike. For recordings he uses the notorious all metallic self-made John Velano guitar with the thin silver neck.

Johnny Winter produces the grammy award winning album "Hard again" with Muddy Waters which launches the comeback of Muddy

Muddy Waters : during an interview on Johnny:

Tim: Talking about collaborations, I was curious how you got together with Johnny Winter.

Muddy: I met Johnny in Austin, Texas. He opened the show for me back in '60, I think.

Tim: And how did his producing your Blue Sky album come to be?

Muddy: He was on it. He was with CBS, and CBS distributed Blue Sky, and the guy that owned Blue Sky was Johnny's personal man all the way through, Steve Paul. So we was looking for a record contract, and when my manager went to CBS, they said, "Well, we got a good place to put him." And they put me on Blue Sky with Johnny. 'Cause see, Johnny, he loves me, because he learned a lot of things under my music. He likes me personally as a friend. So when he heard that we wanted him to produce the record and all -- Man, that was just what he wanted. It's like a little family thing we got. So we did good over there. This is the fourth one out, and we done won three Grammy awards. Every one we put out, we win. This might be the one this time, who knows.

Tim: That's kind of a strange partnership. He's a relative newcomer to the blues compared to you.

Muddy: Yeah, definitely. He's a young boy, compared to me. But he learned under my records, and people like me. But he mostly studied my records when he was a kid coming up. And a lot of more of 'em did too.

Tim: And he's helped to bring the blues to a bigger population, wouldn't you say?

Muddy: Sure. Definitely.

Muddy about Johnny : 'Cause see, Johnny, he loves me, because he learned a lot of things under my music. He likes me personally as a friend. So when he heard that we wanted him to produce the record and all -- Man, that was just what he wanted. It's like a little family thing we got. So we did good over there. This is the fourth one out, and we done won three Grammy awards. Every one we put out, we win. This might be the one this time, who knows.

Sunday, 27 February 1977 , Boston, Music Hall

Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters and James Cotton

Hideaway
Sweet Home Chicago
Talk to your daughter

Friday, 4 March 1977: An Evening of the Blues at Palladium, N.Y.C

Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters and James Cotton

Saturday, 5 March 1977, Johny Winter at Springfield Civic Center

Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters and James Cotton

Muddy Waters, Guitar & Vocals (On Last Few Tracks Only)

Johnny Winter, Guitar
James Cotton, Harmonica
Bob Margolin, Guitar
Pinetop Perkins, Piano
Charles Calmese, Bass
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Drums

Saturday, 5 March 1977, Johny Winter at Springfield Civic Center

Setlist

Intro / Tuning
Hideaway (with band intros)
Choo Choo (James Cotton)
Instrumental (Pinetop Perkins)
Sweet Home Chicago
Crosscut Saw
Last Night
Last Night
Rocket 88 (James Cotton)
How Blue Can You Get
How Long
Dust My Broom
Every Married Woman
Chicken Shack> Muddy intro, Hoochie Coochie Man
Can't Get No Grindin'
The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock & Roll

Sunday, 6 March 1977 (or Friday, 3 June 1977), Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA

Johnny Winter together with Muddy Waters and his band. Available on the bootleg CD, Songs performed include:

Hideaway
Cotton jam
Last night
See see baby
Rocket 88
How long?
Slow blues
I dont got over it
Cross cut saw
Talk to your daughter
Muddy intro
Hoochie coochie man
Blow wind blow
Walkin thru the park
Deep down in Florida
Blues had a baby
I can't be satisfied
Trouble no more
Howlin wolf
Manish boy
Got my mojo workin
Oh baby

Thursday, 7 July 1977 - Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR

Friday, 8 July 1977 - Paramount Northwest Theatre, Seattle, WA

Notes: The scanned ticket stub says "Paramount Northwest". The "Northwest" should be ignored as this (to include "Northwest" in the venue title) was a ridiculous decision by some person in 1970 or early 1971. The inclusion of "Northwest" was unpopular and nobody called these theatres "Paramount Northwest". Since it was so unpopular and the inclusion of the title inconsistent, the moniker was dropped or faded out completely by around 1980. In Portland, the title faded away much more quickly.