MUSIC REVIEW : Winter’s Virtuosity Knows No Seasons : Concert: The guitarist’s Belly Up performance provided an unvarnished demonstration of his mind-boggling craft.

When Johnny Winter sings about “The Illustrated Man,” he’s not referring to the Rod Steiger movie.

Covered in tattoos as loud, garish and colorful as his screaming brand of blues-rock, Winter blew into the Belly Up Tavern like a Texas monsoon Wednesday night, his pinkish-white, albino skin a stark canvas for the intricate ink work.

Winter has been performing nationally for almost a quarter of a century now, but little has changed. Gone are the Dracula capes, ridiculous platform boots and other rock star regalia of his early days, but Winter’s music remains much the same, his mind-boggling virtuosity on guitar undiminished by time.

His Belly Up concert was an unvarnished demonstration of this craft. Particularly astonishing, as always, was Winter’s slide work--as fast as it is precise, as innovative as it is rooted deeply in the traditions of the blues pioneers of the 1920s.

Dressed in a black cowboy hat and sleeveless shirt, Winter played and sang in his funky, frog-like croak with eyes tightly shut (he’s legally blind), as if in the throes of some twisted, demonic blues rapture.

Much of the night was spent showcasing material from his just-released “Hey, Where’s Your Brother” album, highlighted by a jumping rendition of Louis Jordan’s “Blue Light Boogie.”

Bassist-vocalist-cheerleader Jeff Ganz drew enthusiastic yelps from the crowd as he lauded the election of Bill Clinton as a preface to taking the lead vocals on an up-tempo version of Cream’s “Politician.”

He also gained the audience’s support for mimicking the screech-and-scat vocal style of Johnny’s brother, Edgar, even if it seemed a cheap ploy designed to easily win favor with the highly partisan fans.

He atoned for the cheesy measure by playing a couple of lightning-fingered bass solos throughout the night, incredibly matching Winter’s speed note-for-note on his more cumbersome instrument.

The full house reached peak excitement when Winter fired up an extended “Highway 61” to close his set, followed by an encore of “The Illustrated Man.” Strangely, these were to be the only songs in which Winter hit the strings with his slide all night--something of a disappointment.

Winter’s career has been a wild, roller coaster ride. Currently, his visibility is on an up note after a show-stealing performance of “Highway 61 Revisited” at the recent pay-per-view television tribute to Bob Dylan.

Signed by Columbia Records in 1969 for the then unheard-of sum of $100,000, Winter’s record sales, while quite respectable, never lived up to the early hype and commercial pressure dictated by the record company. Although he remained an arena-packing attraction for the better part of a decade, by the mid-’80s he was relegated to recording for independent labels and playing in bars.

Then, last year, Winter released the superb, career reaffirming “Let Me In” on Point Blank/Charisma Records, and appreciation for his buzzing, Texas blues was on the rise once again. The Grammy-nominated album was Winter’s most visible in years.

His latest, “Hey, Where’s Your Brother” (a reference to the equally renowned Edgar), was officially released the night of his Belly Up show. The album is something of a letdown, following as it does the relative heights of “Let Me In,” but it still displays Winter’s snaking, coiling guitar trickery to great effect.

Kudos are also in order for local openers The Blonde Bruce Band, which turned in a fine supporting performance that was greeted warmly by hard-core Winter fans. Particularly noteworthy was the driving harp work of Aristotle Giorgio, whose precision honking was the talk of the room before Winter’s appearance.