''I'm a Bluesman'' is an album by blues guitarist and singer

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1 ...

. This was his first studio album with new material in twelve years, released by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

on June 25, 2004. The album is a mixture of original songs and covers of blues standards. As the album's title suggests, the songs have strong emphasis on traditional electric blues over the blues-rock elements on some previous Winter albums. ''I'm a Bluesman'' was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Contemporary Blues Performance and in 1989 was awarded to a song rather than to an album. The award was ...

.Associated Press (December 7, 2004)
"Grammy Nominees: The Complete List"
''New York Times''. Retrieved February 11, 2015.

Critical reception

Music website

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave ''I'm a Bluesman'' three out of five stars. Reviewer

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

stated that "... it was about exactly the set you'd expect from Winter, setting energetic if predictably formatted material to solid electric blues arrangements..." and pointed out the acoustic song "That Wouldn't Satisfy" as providing the album's more inspired moments.

Track listing

(*) Bonus track for Japan edition.

Personnel

Musicians

– vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

* Paul Nelson – rhythm guitar * Scott Spray – bass * Wayne June – drums * James Montgomery – harmonica

Guest musicians

Tom Hambridge Thomas Jay Hambridge (born December 20, 1960) is an American rock, country, and blues, producer, songwriter, musician drummer and vocalist. Hambridge has received two Grammy Awards, an ASCAP award, seven Grammy nominations, seven Boston Music A ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals * Mike Welch – rhythm guitar * Brad Hallen – bass *

Reese Wynans Reese Wynans (born November 28, 1947) is an American Keyboardist, keyboard player, who has done session work and has been a member of Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble and progressive rock band Captain Beyond. In 2015, he was inducted into t ...

– keyboards * Tommy MacDonald – bass * Sal Baglio – rhythm guitar

Production

* Produced by

and

Dick Shurman Richard L. Shurman (born May 23, 1950) is an American record producer, sound engineer, music journalist, music historian, and backing vocalist. He has produced numerous recordings by notable musicians including Johnny Winter, Lurrie Bell, Eddie ...

. * Co-Produced by

. * Recorded by Ducky Carlisle * Mixed by David Axelbaum and Dick Shurman. * A&R – David J. Wolter. * Mastered by Greg Calbi * CD Design by Kirk Richard Smith Creative Direction Sean Mosher Smith

References

{{Authority control Johnny Winter albums 2004 albums Albums produced by Johnny Winter Virgin Records albums