Johnny Winter

Whippersnappers Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd weren’t the first young, white blues-guitar prodigies: Johnny Winter beat them by decades, forming his first band in 1959 when he was 15. Brother of Edgar “Frankenstein” Winter, Johnny took a brief turn toward more modernized blues in the ’60s, but soon returned to roots music, releasing almost 40 albums and several dozen compilations between 1969’s The Johnny Winter Story and 2011’s aptly titled Roots, which features a bevy of big-name guests (Warren Haynes, John Medeski, Derek Trucks) paying yet another tribute to blues greats (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Elmore James).

Updated 12/20/2011