Today marks Edgar Winter’s 75th birthday. Born on December 28, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas, the renowned multi-instrumentalist and composer mastered a number of instruments before leaving home and is known for his copious chops on keyboards, saxophone and percussion. Edgar’s older brother is the late great guitarist Johnny Winter.
Johnny appeared on Edgar’s 1970 recording of John D. Loudermilk’s “Tobacco Road” along with Johnny Winter collaborator and future Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble bassist Tommy Shannon. The cover appeared on Edgars’s breakout album, Entrance. Winter continued his success with a group called White Trash, releasing a studio album, Edgar Winter’s White Trash, in 1971 and a live album, Roadwork, in 1972.
1972 also saw Edgar forming a new band called the Edgar Winter Group and releasing his landmark album, They Only Come Out AT Night, which featured contributions from Johnny Winter collaborator and guitarist Rick Derringer as well as Don Hartman, with the latter penning and singing one of the album’s and Edgar Winter’s biggest hits, “Free Ride.” The LP also boasted Edgar’s monster instrumental “Frankenstein.”
35 years later, Edgar Winter would include both “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” in his setlist at the Museumsplatz in Bonn, Germany on May 12, 2007 along with opener “Keep Playing That Rock & Roll.” The Edgar Winter Group — consisting of Winter, guitarist Doug Rappoport, bassist Mark Meadows and drummer Antonio Pia — also delivered a cover of “Turn On Your Love Light” as well as a medley containing the aforementioned “Tobacco Road” and the Isley Brothers classic “Shout” to close out the set.
To celebrate Edgar Winter’s birthday, watch the Edgar Winter Group perform from Germany in 2007 below:
Setlist
Edgar Winter at Museumsplatz
- Keep Playin’ That Rock ‘n’ Roll
- Turn On Your Love Light
- Free Ride
- Frankenstein
- Tobacco Road
- Shout
