Steve Winwood Talks New Live Set
Out today (September 1) is Steve Winwood‘s Greatest Hits Live, a two-disc concert set that features songs from throughout Winwood’s 50-years-plus recording career with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and on his own, most of it hailing from the past decade with his current touring quintet.
But there are recordings from other points of Winwood’s 30-plus years of touring on his own, and he tells us that the material takes on a different life in the live setting:
“What I’ve tried to do, and with the people in the various bands I’ve played — particularly with the band I’ve been working with in the last 10, 15 years or so — is we try and reinvent some of the songs that I’m known for and I’m expected to play…It’s more interesting to us, and we hope it’s more interesting to the listener and after awhile of collecting these things I think there’s probably enough stuff here we can put it out, and it’s quite interesting…I think it’s a bit more than just the live version of what’s on the record.”
Winwood and company are taking to the road again to promote the album, kicking off a North American tour today in Santa Ynez, Calif.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
