I'm a Bluesman

1	I'm a Bluesman 4:12
2	Cheatin' Blues 3:22
3	I Smell Smoke 3:57
4	Lone Wolf 3:29
5	So Much Love 3:22
6	The Monkey Song 6:13
7	Shake Down 4:02
8	Sweet Little Baby 2:48
9	Pack Your Bags 4:04
10	Last Night 3:12
11	That Wouldn't Satisfy 4:08
12	Sugar Coated Love 4:00
13	Let's Start All Over Again 4:25

Barnes & Noble

For the past eight years, Johnny Winter fans have had to rely on reissues for a fix of the blond bombshell from Texas. Now the “Guitar Slinger” is back with I’m a Blues Man, a solid set of rockin’ roadhouse and down-and-dirty slow-blues numbers. The title cut is not Z. Z. Hill’s slow-grind hit but a biographical tune by Winter’s friend Paul Nelson, who also wrote the prison-bound tale “Shakedown.” Here, Winter’s guitar playing is as precise and chilling as it was on his classic 1970s work. For some serious Winter-style slide there are two wide-open rockers, “Lone Wolf” and “Sweet Little Baby.” The guitarist goes solo acoustic for the dark “That Wouldn’t Satisfy,” written by one of Winter’s Texas heroes, Hop Wilson. He acknowledges another inspiration, Lazy Lester, with an ebullient version of the harmonica player’s “Sugar Coated Love.” I’m a Blues Man shouts the return of Johnny Winter as a roots guitarist with a rock ‘n’ roll soul. Roberta Penn

All Music Guide

Yes, he's a bluesman -- has anyone at all familiar with Johnny Winter ever thought anything else? But his first album of new material in almost eight years was certainly very much in the straightforward blues-rock mold, emphasis on the "blues" over "rock." There was nothing to either disappoint longtime fans or excite the unconverted, as it was about exactly the set you'd expect from Winter, setting energetic if predictably formatted material to solid electric blues arrangements. His accomplished guitar playing sometimes bore a tarter tone than some of his past recordings, and his vocals as always were not as impressive as his axe work, though they were serviceable. The songs were a mixture of originals, contributions from past and present sidemen and producer Tom Hambridge, and covers of Lazy Lester's "Sugar Coated Love" and Hop Wilson's "That Wouldn't Satisfy." Although this is acceptably competent, good-natured blues-rock, it's the acoustic "That Wouldn't Satisfy" that provides the most inspired moments. Winter's slide guitar on this track is superb, whetting one's appetite for an entire album of such outings should he ever be in the mood to go unplugged. Richie Unterberger