The article also created a flood of sudden interest in the album THE PROGRESSIVE BLUES EXPERIMENT, a collection of straight blues tunes that Johnny's trio had initially recorded at the Vulcan Gas Company and which was quickly picked up for national release by Imperial. Johnny had been investigating the blues scene in England just as the Rolling Stone issue came out. Upon returning to Texas, he became the focus of a furious bidding war between major labels, eventually signing to Columbia with a much ballyhooed recording contract. His excellent debut LP, "Johnny Winter", was released late in 1968. A series of classic hard rock'n'roll blues albums for Columbia followed: "Second Winter" (l969), "Still Alive and Well" (1973), and "Saints and Sinners" (1974). Later in '74 Johnny joined the CBS affiliate label Blue Sky, commencing with the rootsy "John Dawson Winter III" and "Captured Live" (1976). In 1977, Johnny fulfilled a dream by producing Muddy Waters's comeback album, "Hard Again", which won a Grammy Award for Blue Sky. << PREV | NEXT >>