By Brad Hundt, Staff writer

bhundt@observer-reporter.com

"Music has been my life and it always will be," according to Edgar Winter. "I don't ever intend to retire."

With a schedule that includes about 100 shows per year and a new album in the works featuring guest appearances by Slash and Clint Black, you'd be hard-pressed to call Winter the retiring kind. He hasn't had a hit since the '70s, but Winter has kept on making albums and can frequently be found playing "Free Ride" and "Frankenstein" at biker rallies, festivals and on double-bills with other 1970s classic rockers. He'll be at the Pepsi Cola Roadhouse in Burgettstown tonight with the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

During his heyday, the long-haired, alabaster-pale Winter (he's an albino) was known for his wide-ranging eclecticism, melding together elements of rock, jazz and the blues, and that's still his modus operandi. His last album, 2004's "Jazzin' the Blues" features a smooth jazz version "Free Ride" and a swinging rendition of "Frankenstein," the heavy rock instrumental that went to No. 1 on the Billboard in the summer of 1973.

"Part of what I've tried to do throughout my career is broaden musical horizons and play a really wide variety of music," he explained earlier this month from his Los Angeles-area home. "I'm primarily thought of as a rocker, but I really do love jazz and classical."

Born 61 years ago in Beaumont, Texas, Winter describes himself as being a reticent kid who handled the arrangements in a garage band with his brother, Johnny Winter, who has his own successful career as a blues guitarist. The two of them toured Europe together last year, and Winter said he admires "the purity of his blues roots ... He really understands and feels that music."

And, no, the relationship of the Brothers Winter isn't at all like the love-hate carousel that's characterized the Everly Brothers, Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks or Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis.

"Johnny is my all-time musical hero," Winter said. "We were really quite different as kids. Johnny was a lot more aggressive and outgoing. He was more ambitious as well. He used to read all the magazines and watch 'American Bandstand.' I was content to give Johnny the spotlight back then."

Winter's brother, along with Black and Slash, are on the guest list for his album, "Rockin' the Blues," which he hopes to release later this year. It's a collection of blues songs, and Winter hopes to "demonstrate the variety of styles that exist within the blues."

Winter also is set to be on the road again this summer as part of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band. He'll be joined by guitarist Billy Squier, former Men at Work lead singer Colin Hay and Gary Wright, who had Top 10 hits in the mid-'70s with "Dream Weaver" and "Love is Alive" and played keyboards in the band Spooky Tooth.

Winter was part of the ex-Beatle's touring ensemble in 2006 and said it was "one of the most incredible experiences of my life."

"You never know what to expect in that kind of situation, where there are a lot of celebrities," he said. "But I found that everybody was really supportive, not only of Ringo, but also of one another ... It could have devolved into a competitive kind of thing."

Winter also is working on a musical based on his song "Frankenstein" and he occasionally puts music on his Web site that he records in his home studio, with no intention of making it available in any other format.

"I just like to continue to have fun with music and continue to find new challenges. And I kind of enjoy doing unexpected things."

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