His surname was Winter, but he played scorching guitar like an albino shaman summoning molten rock from a volcano. In fact, “molten rock” is a perfect description of the kind of music Johnny Winter played, especially “Fast Life Rider” from 1969’s Second Winter. Winter is wailing with the wah-wah pedal and backed by military drums. It sounds like a march into oblivion, conveying fury and freedom, topped off by the lonely weariness of his rebel yell of a voice. This is what 25-year-old musicians actually sounded like back then. For him the phrase “Don’t Mess with Texas” was redundant. All one had to do was listen to any song by the Lone Star native, and you’d get the drift.

It couldn’t have been easy for an albino to grow up in the South. Winter was fortunate, however, to come of age during the 60’s, when the counterculture allowed people to reinvent themselves. So by the end of the decade, the clean-cut misfit transformed into a guitar hero who looked like a badass Ed Begley, Jr., had he starred in The Warriors.

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Joe Perry recently said, “If it weren’t for Johnny Winter, I would have never picked up the guitar.” The proof is in the playing. Perry’s slide guitar on “Rag Doll,” “Let the Music Do the Talking,” and “Adam’s Apple” all contain Winter’s fire and brimstone.

And you can hear the seeds of Aerosmith in “Mean Town Blues,” from 1971’s Live Johnny Winter And, as well as Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70. In recent years, the word epic has often been used to describe things like cute cat videos on the internet or selfies. Winter and Rick Derringer staged guitar battles that truly were “epic,” with the … 10/3/70 version storming in at almost 20 minutes. The Aerosmith connection is mainly due to the axe-interplay between Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. They combine Winter/Derringer’s Southern grease with East Coast, urban ambience, and incorporate British influences like John Lennon, George Harrison, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Dave Davies, etc.

Winter made a huge impact even on those who inspired him, like Muddy Waters. He produced three of his albums, including his last studio recording, 1981’s King Bee. The first and best of these records, 1977’s Hard Again, starts with a remake of “Mannish Boy” that has Winter screaming “Yeah!” like Frankenstein’s Monster had he been aroused by fire, instead of fearing it. When Aerosmith finished a show I saw two years ago at Madison Square Garden, the lights went up and this rendition of “Mannish Boy” came on as the audience made their way out. It capped off a stellar night of rock’n’roll (Cheap Trick was the opening act) and was a nod to two major inspirations. In a way, they were ending with the beginning.

Muddy Waters was the greatest bluesman of his generation. Johnny Winter, one of his many disciples, and the whitest of white men, turned out to be the best of his.