Elvin Bishop

Blending blues traditions with infusions of gospel, R&B, and country, guitarist Elvin Bishop emerged as an early standout in blues-rock through his tenure in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band before carving out a solo path that reached its commercial high point with the 1976 release “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” a Top Ten hit. His technique sparkled with virtuosity yet stayed grounded in deep roots sources, allowing a supple, lighthearted approach that set him apart from most flashy guitar figures of the decade. The instrument figured prominently on the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s 1967 album The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, and once Bishop struck out alone he reached peak form with 1974’s Let It Flow and 1976’s Struttin’ My Stuff. Following an extended recording break he returned in strong form on 1988’s Big Fun and 1991’s Don’t Let the Bossman Get You Down!, then maintained a steady output through the 2010s with Red Dog Speaks (2010) and Something Smells Funky ’Round Here (2018).

Born October 21, 1942, in Glendale, California, Bishop spent his childhood on an Iowa farm that lacked both electricity and indoor plumbing before his family relocated to Oklahoma when he turned ten. Growing up in an exclusively white rural setting, his first contact with African-American musical forms arrived via radio broadcasts from Shreveport, Louisiana; the incisive tone of Jimmy Reed’s harmonica captured his ear, an experience Bishop later compared to solving a crossword puzzle. A National Merit Scholarship brought him to the University of Chicago in 1959, placing him inside the city’s thriving blues community. After two years he left school to devote himself entirely to music, soon crossing paths with Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Smokey Smothers, who instructed him in foundational blues techniques.

In the early 1960s Bishop joined forces with harmonica virtuoso Paul Butterfield to form the nucleus of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, an ensemble that helped fuse rock and blues audiences. Though he had played guitar for only a short time, Bishop rehearsed relentlessly and performed with the group in every conceivable setting—college grounds, private homes, public parks, and Big John’s on Chicago’s North Side, a club that repeatedly hosted the band and broadened its following. He contributed to the character of multiple Butterfield recordings, most notably the 1967 set The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, whose title alluded to his own nickname and rural persona.

Bishop departed the Butterfield organization in 1968 after the release of its fourth album, In My Own Dream. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and began appearing regularly at the Fillmore alongside Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and the Allman Brothers Band. His first four solo projects appeared on Epic Records, beginning with 1969’s The Elvin Bishop Group; in 1974 he joined Capricorn and scored a modest chart entry with “Traveling Shoes” from Let It Flow. Greater success arrived two years later when “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” drawn from Struttin’ My Stuff, climbed to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequent Capricorn releases—1976’s Hometown Boy Makes Good! and 1978’s Hog Heaven—met with more modest returns, after which the Elvin Bishop Group disbanded. Capricorn issued The Best of Elvin Bishop in 1979, while the earlier Epic compilation The Best of Elvin Bishop: Crabshaw Rising had surfaced in 1975. A 1981 German Line Records outing, Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby, preceded another quiet stretch until Bishop signed with Alligator Records.

His debut Alligator album, Big Fun, arrived in 1988, followed by Don’t Let the Bossman Get You Down! in 1991; both drew stronger critical notices than his late-1970s work. Bishop joined Alligator’s twentieth-anniversary national tour in 1992, then toured with B.B. King and issued Ace in the Hole in 1995. The Skin I’m In appeared in 1998, and 2000’s That’s My Partner reunited him with Smokey Smothers. After five years away from the studio he returned with 2005’s Gettin’ My Groove Back on Blind Pig Records, then moved to Delta Groove Music for 2008’s The Blues Rolls On, which featured guest contributions from B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, and additional players. Red Dog Speaks, titled after Bishop’s cherished 1959 ES-345 Gibson, came out in 2010, followed by the gritty yet exuberant Can’t Even Do Wrong Right in 2014.

That same year Bishop formed the Big Fun Trio with pianist and guitarist Bob Welsh plus percussionist and vocalist Willy Jordan; the group made its recorded debut on Alligator’s 2018 release Something Smells Funky ’Round Here. Live at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2019 documented a performance at the city’s annual celebration. In 2019 Bishop embarked on a stripped-down tour with longtime friend and harmonica specialist Charlie Musselwhite; audience and performer enthusiasm led the pair into the studio, yielding the Grammy-nominated 100 Years of Blues, issued by Alligator in 2020.