I think Joe Bonamassa really channelled Johnny the most. I’ll just say a few words about a few of the people. On some of the players on Brother Johnny: He would have thought, “Well how come all of a sudden you’re just trying to sound exactly like me?” You know, I love jazz and classical and country, as well as blues and rock, and Johnny always encouraged me to follow my heart and play the musicthat meant something to me, so I I know it’s not the record Johnny would have made, but I think it is the record he would have wanted me to make for him. And I decided it should be a balance of both and that’s what I tried to do, But I don’t think Johnny would have liked it if I just made a straight ahead blues record. I think you owe it to yourself, to Johnny, and to the world to make this record and she was so right in every respect and I’m just so glad that that I did make it.įirst question in my mind was should I just make a straight ahead blues record in tribute to Johnny’s legacy or should it be more of a personal dedication from me to my brother, based on a lot of my own particular personal favourites. But you know, she just said well you always speak about how John is your all-time musical hero and that you wouldn’t be where you are were at not for him, so here’s your opportunity to acknowledge that. I spent years not making this record and when I talked to my wife Monique, about it, when we finally got an offer that seemed real, and I’ll go into how that happened, but she was just so definite and I trust Monique’s intuition sometimes more than my analytical thinking. Plus, I was just devastated and I was not emotionally ready or prepared to make an album like this. So it really was something I needed to do you know…The funny thing about it is, Johnny may have departed this physical realm, but I talk to him everyday and his music will live on in my heart, and that’s all I wanted to do with this, was to just say thank you … Shortly after Johnny death, I was sort of gallery with requests and deal offers, and that’s exactly what they felt like to me, deal offers in that it was record labels, business people sensing an opportunity and it felt to me like exploitation of Johnny’s name, using it for commercial purposes and it wasn’t something that I wanted to do. It was very cathartic, therapeutic and I feel in a way that I had never really expected after having made it. I had a blast doing it and you know, I thought it might be highly emotional and difficult, but playing all of those songs brought back so many memories and it turned out to be a great source of strength and comfort. On how the Brother Johnny record came about: Some highlights from Edgar Winter’s chat with Let’s Rock
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