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THIS OL’ COWBOY
DONNIE WINTERS ON FAMILY, FRIENDS THE WINTERS BROTHERS BAND
by Michael Buffalo Smith Donnie Winters has been playing guitar for a lot of years. Maybe that’s
why, these days, all you have to do is call out the key that the song is in and he will play right along with you. Seriously. He’s one of the hottest guitar slingers in Southern Rock, but you’d never know it by talking to him. He’s humble. But I have seen him with my own eyes. I have heard him hold his own beside folks like Toy Caldwell, Charlie Daniels, Tommy Crain, and Dickey Betts. Usually, he did a little more than “hold his own,” to be honest. In this exclusive interview, Donnie opens up about his music, his musical family, The Winters Brothers Band, and rocking The Volunteer Jam.
Let's go all the way back to the begin- ning. Were you and Dennis raised there in middle Tennessee? Tell us
about the family, your Dad and Uncle Zack, the whole family thing.
My granddad had a band in the ‘40’s called Pop Winters and the Southern Strollers. They played mostly south Georgia and Florida. My dad sang and played with his band and later his sister, Rita, also sang with the band. Zack Tucker played and sang with the band, too and he married my dad’s sister, Mary. Aunt Rita also had a career both solo and with Anita Carter and Ruby Wright, called Nita, Rita and Ruby. I was born in Florida but spent most of my life here in middle Ten- nessee.
When did your father start out as a singer? My dad started with his dad, then moved to Nashville in 1953. He recorded for RCA Victor and Coin Records and Columbia. You can ac- tually find some of those on YouTube. He has a rockabilly kind of cult hit out today called “Pretty Moon” and the flip side is “Be My Baby, Baby.”
Tell us about Don’s career, the solo work, and of course working with the legendary Marty Robbins. Dad had a single out on Decca Records called “Too Many Times” and on the flip side was “Shake Hands with a Loser.” It was kinda booked onto shows and Marty Robbins ap-
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