Mary Lou Sullivan’s quest to tell the story of Johnny Winter began when she interviewed him for a local article in 1984. That dream came true in 2003 when she finally secured the access to Winter that she needed. Culled from hundreds of hours of interviews with Winter and honest talks with nearly every person who was part of his life, Raisin’ Cain, The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter is a first-class biography. Her accurate descriptions of Winter’s childhood in Texas, from his early days listening to Howlin’ Wolf on KWKH radio and seeing B.B. King when Johnny was 16 to his days playing at the Vulcan Gas Company, jammin’ with Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock, and his revitalizing of Muddy Waters’ career in the late 1970s make this book as much about the times as it is about this iconic guitarist. In its first year, it went into its third printing, an impressive accomplishment for a blues book.
