Edgar Winter

★★★ Brother Johnny QUARTO VALLEY. CD/DL/LP

Keyboard maestro pays homage to his sibling, with a little help from their friends. Edgar Winter’s smartphone contacts include Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh and Billy Gibbons, as well as nouveau bluesmen Joe Bonamassa and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Everybody brings their A-game to guitarist Johnny’s back catalogue, but for every peak there’s an occasional trough. Bonamassa’s slide guitar blazes through Mean Town Blues and Gibbons’ gravelly-voiced, nimble-fingered performance turns I’m Yours And I’m Hers into a ’70s-era lost ZZ Top song. Less essential are new takes on Johnny B. Goode and Rock’N’Roll Hoochie Coo, and Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins singing lead vocals on Guess I’ll Go Away. In contrast, though, there’s Keb’ Mo’s delicate Lone Star Blues, and Joe Walsh and lapsed Doobie Brother Michael McDonald’s graceful ballad Stranger.

All quibbles aside, this is a loving tribute, and listening to brother Johnny’s acolytes here is a reminder of just how big a shadow he cast.

Mark Blake