Barry Goldberg

During the mid-1960s, Barry Goldberg stood out as a consistent presence in the white blues scene that extended from Chicago to New York. Working primarily as a keyboardist with organ as his main instrument, he earned steady work as a session player, joining Michael Bloomfield on one Mitch Ryder album and appearing alongside Al Kooper as well as Mark Naftalin, the blues-oriented musician from the original Butterfield band. He belonged to Charlie Musselwhite’s first group and supplied memorable piano and organ parts on the Stand Back! album—most notably the moody, introspective reading of “Cristo Redentor,” which blended a jazz-inflected sensibility with Goldberg’s firm blues grounding—plus several other recordings issued across that decade. Barry Goldberg died on January 22, 2025, at the age of 82.