Gangster of Love the Essential Early Years - Authorized Collection

In late 1968, Johnny Winter went from an obscure Texas guitar player to one of the most-talked about artists in rock and blues when Rolling Stone ran a profile that declared Winter played "some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you have ever heard." A few months later, Winter had a contract with Columbia Records and was playing major venues across the country, but few of his new fans were aware that Winter had been cutting rock and blues singles for small regional labels in the Southwest for close to ten years before he'd been "discovered." Gangster of Love: The Essential Early Years collects 36 sides from Winter's days as a journeyman Lone Star recording artist, taking on anything from dance tunes to folk-rock to James Brown covers. Cut between 1959 and 1966, this music is a far cry from the raw but superbly executed sides that made Winter a blues-rock legend, and the fidelity ranges from good to scratchy, but Winter's skills as a guitarist are clearly evident in these recordings, and fans curious about the long years before he became an overnight success will enjoy this document of Winter's barnstorming days.