Inside Music: Re: Masters

Steve Winwood's 'Nine Lives'

The British rock legend on his return to the spotlight and his legacy with Traffic and Blind Faith

By Alan Light
Special to MSN Music

The title of Steve Winwood's new album is "Nine Lives" -- which refers to the number of songs the disc contains, but could just as easily describe Winwood's long and varied career.

I did notice that during "Cocaine," I got a cheer when I did my guitar solo. I was curious what that was for, and then I realized after that it was probably just for the effort and the bravery of soloing next to Eric.

Since making one of rock 'n' roll's grandest entrances in 1966 at age 15, singing and playing organ with the Spencer Davis Group on the immortal "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man," Winwood has remained in the spotlight in many guises: as the leader of the ever-evolving Traffic, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004; as co-founder, with Eric Clapton, of the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith; as a solo artist with a long run of hits (including the No. 1 singles "Higher Love" and "Roll With It"); and as a sideman, playing with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison and Lou Reed.

Last year, Clapton joined Winwood for a set at a benefit concert for the Countryside Alliance (a Farm Aid-like organization devoted to rural issues in England); soon after, they reconnected in Chicago for a few songs at the Clapton's annual Crossroads festival, which raises money for his drug rehabilitation clinic. In February, the duo played three sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden, drawing rapturous fans from around the globe (Winwood described the reaction as "astounding"), and he proved that his glorious, soul-drenched voice has not lost any of its power.

Along with the release of the jam-heavy "Nine Lives," which spotlights Winwood's longtime touring band, he will return to the road for a lengthy tour opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In a conversation in his hotel room at the base of Central Park, Winwood, who turns 60 in May, discussed his reunion with Clapton and his new music, as well as the challenges of fitting four decades of work into an hour-long performance.

"We'll be cycling things," he says, "putting songs in, taking stuff out -- we might even see how long we can go without repeating a song. Trying to just change it up each night. That's all you can do."

MSN Music: Are you satisfied with how the Clapton shows turned out?

Steve Winwood: I think it was a fantastic success. Eric loves to have people singing or playing guitar on his songs. We had a small, scaled-down band, which helped bring us out of ourselves, and maybe pushed us a bit. And we had a nice mix of material as well, so I think it was a great success.

Was there anything that really surprised you when you played it onstage?

We put a couple of songs in at the very last minute. We put in Buddy Miles' "Them Changes" the day before the first show, and then it was very shocking to find out that Buddy passed away after we played the second show -- that was terribly sad.

I did notice that during "Cocaine," I got a cheer when I did my guitar solo. I was curious what that was for, and then I realized after that it was probably just for the effort and the bravery of soloing next to Eric.

Clapton has said that he wanted to work with you only if he believed it might lead to some new music and wasn't just looking backward. Has that remained the spirit of this collaboration?

Well, he does play on the song "Dirty City" on my album. We had actually planned to record a few tracks together before we did this, but then we ended up simplifying it because it was just the three shows, so it's got to take on more the air of a jam. We ended up throwing out songs that were more complicated, because we wanted to concentrate on our performances rather than worrying about what came next. But if it were to continue, I'm sure that we would do more -- in fact, Eric has asked me to go do some recording with him later in the month. But that's not a joint project, that's for a record that he's doing.

Did all of the attention that these shows put back onto the Blind Faith album surprise you, and did it make you feel any differently about that project?

It was an odd band, Blind Faith. I think when Eric and I put together the band, we had a good idea of what we wanted to do, and I think we managed to get that onto the record. Where it all went wrong was when we went and played live -- the world of finance reared its head, which didn't help, inasmuch as people wanted to capitalize on what we were doing and started putting us into places that we probably shouldn't have been going.

When we play "Can't Find My Way Home" now, it's reached an almost anthemic stage. Where of course it's a delicate, almost acoustic guitar piece, and when we were playing it back in 1969 at the big arenas where they were used to hearing "Sunshine of Your Love" and heavy rock stuff, it really wasn't going down well at all.

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