It got all kinds of awards and it’s still going strong. He interviewed Billy Gibbons, Clive Davis (who signed everybody, including Johnny,) Edgar Winter, Warren Haynes, Joe Perry, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, and he followed us everywhere for three years. He followed Johnny and I to Japan, to China, when he and I did David Letterman, when we did Jimmy Kimmel, to Johnny’s house in Texas. What he got was the closest footage of any documentary I’ve seen. He was with us everywhere, he was in the mix. I said to him, the only thing is, you need to come on the road with us. I contacted him (Oliver) and we hit it off. In a Blues setting, Johnny would be perfect with this. When I saw the DVD, it was the best editing, the best interview, the closeness, the quality of the film and the way it was put together, I’m like wow.
Two seconds later, Greg Olliver’s name comes up and he’s just finished and released the documentary on Lemmy of Motorhead. I told the record label at the time, I said, look, I want to do a documentary on Johnny, just put the word out. Now that he was healthy, I knew it was time to document him. He just didn’t do interviews, so history was being rewritten and he was being written out of it. When it came time to do interviews about Muddy Waters, about Woodstock, and all the things that he had lived through, he wasn’t there, you know, physically and mentally. I knew that Johnny had kind of written himself out of history because he was in such poor shape. I had fired his management and the guy passed away, it was a real bad scene. Paul: Well, Johnny was getting healthier and we were going through a lot of stuff, a lot of changes. Can you tell me about that experience and what prompted you to do it? You produced the documentary about Johnny Winter’s life, Johnny Winter: Down and Dirty. At first, I thought it was Pluto, but whoa, Pluto isn’t blue, so that was that. so long, you just think that everything gravitates around that, which is wrong. is like a little teeny bit of California, maybe in the corner. Their center of the universe is right in Japan, so everything – yeah, of course. When it’s healed, I’m looking at it– wait, what planet is this? There’s all these land masses everywhere–where’s the United States? And then I look at it again and I go, oh, no, he did it from the Japan perspective. Johnny is looking on, it’s looking good as far as I can tell, and then it’s done. Paul: He sketches something out and I look at it, and it’s a planet, and there’s a circle of flame around it with a musical note pierced right through the planet earth. So, I tell the guy this, and he didn’t speak a word of English– Maybe a picture of the earth, and how about a little something around it, and some kind of musical reference. I thought, I’ve been to Japan, and we’re going to China, I’ve pretty much traveled the whole world–I should just get something that shows that I’ve circumvented the globe. Now, we’re in a really good place, one of the best in Japan. So, I’m in Japan with Johnny and he said, “Look, if you get a tattoo, I’ll go with you.” I’m like, here’s my story! It’s like going to a tattoo parlor with Hendrix.
People always have a story about their tattoo, and I had no story. Paul: Yeah, I always wanted one, but the problem was I never had that story that everybody has with tattoos, like my tattoo reminds me of my beloved pet that passed away or some other big event. Could you tell me about the time you were with Johnny Winter getting your first tattoo in Japan? Sounds like there’s a great story there. This is a question from something I read about you. Martine: You spent years touring with Johnny Winter and you were close friends. He produced several of Johnny Winter’s albums, including Step Back, which won Nelson a Grammy for “Best Blues Album.” He executive produced and appeared in the Johnny Winter documentary, Down and Dirty and also appeared in the documentary Sidemen: Long Road to Glory. This is Part Two of our interview with Grammy-winning guitarist, record producer and songwriter, Paul Nelson, who was the guitarist for legendary blues-rock icon, Johnny Winter. Photo of Johnny Winter 2013 by Marty Temme
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