Roots (Johnny Winter album)
| Roots | ||||
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| Studio album by Johnny Winter | ||||
| Released | September 27, 2011 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 52:34 | |||
| Label | Megaforce | |||
| Producer | Paul Nelson | |||
| Johnny Winter chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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Roots is an album by blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter. His first studio album in seven years, it was released by Megaforce Records on September 27, 2011.
On Roots, Winter and his band perform eleven blues standards. Each song features a different guest performer. These featured musical artists include Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, John Popper, Vince Gill, and Johnny's brother Edgar Winter.
Roots was not Johnny Winter's last studio album. Before he died on July 16, 2014, he had largely completed work on a new album, Step Back, which was released on September 2, 2014.
In a 2012 interview, Roots producer and guitarist Paul Nelson said, "Johnny used to play with Eric Clapton on these "Crossroads" projects every four years or so, and he'd always include one or two of these traditional songs on every album. We thought, why not do an album of all traditional songs that everyone loves? I asked Johnny to pick out the songs and it took him 15 minutes. I had these different musicians in mind and I knew how they'd fit. It was an honor to do."
Winter recorded the lead vocal tracks with a single take for each song. He explained to keyboardist Mike DiMeo, "If I can't get it the first time, I can't get it."
On AllMusic, Steve Leggett said, "... this isn't one of those "let's help out the old guitar player explore his roots" kind of blues album. Technically it is, perhaps, but this is every square inch Winter's album. He sings here as well as he ever has and his guitar playing is powerful and brilliant, like it always is, and he's diving into songs and material that he's always emulated — the end result is a coherently shaped, explosive, vibrant, and joyous set of Winter at his best doing what he loves the best.... Roots is easily one of the best blues albums of the year, and with the raw yet elegant grace that Winter brings to these songs, it's also one of the finest albums of his long career."
On About.com Blues, Keith A. Gordon wrote, "For what is essentially only his second new album in nearly two decades, Winter rounded up some friends to accompany him in the studio. It's a mark of the guitarist's status in the blues world that he managed to bring in such talents as Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Susan Tedeschi, and Derek Trucks, among others, for the recording of Roots, a straight-talking, hard-rocking collection of blues and R&B standards. With so many gifted musicians surrounding him, you'd think that Winter could leave a lot of the heavy lifting to others, but that's not the case here — Roots is one of the best albums of his lengthy career, the guitarist playing and singing with the same belly full of fire that he brought to his work in the 1980s."
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