Biography
Paul Butterfield earned distinction as the initial white harmonica player whose distinctive and forceful technique secured his position among authentic blues masters. The pathways he created for others proved impossible to overstate in significance: prior to his rise, white American musicians approached the blues with wary reverence, concerned about appearing inauthentic. Butterfield not only paved opportunities for white performers to extend blues traditions rather than simply copy them, but his intense sound also propelled electric Chicago blues toward white listeners who had once viewed acoustic Delta blues as the sole legitimate form. His earliest mid-1960s recordings, which showcased the renowned racially integrated original Paul Butterfield Blues Band, delivered varied and innovative works that blended electric blues with rock & roll, psychedelia, jazz, and even Indian classical music on the standout East-West. As musicians from that ensemble, among them Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, gradually departed, the broader influence of Butterfield's output diminished, although his amplified harp work remained flawless. He had largely withdrawn from visibility by the mid-1970s and succumbed to health issues along with drug addiction that ended his life too soon. Nevertheless, the scale of Butterfield's early influence guaranteed his lasting reputation.
Butterfield entered the world on December 17, 1942, in Chicago and spent his childhood in Hyde Park, a progressive, mixed neighborhood on the South Side. His father worked as a lawyer while his mother painted, and both supported his musical training from childhood onward; he studied flute through high school under the occasional private guidance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's principal flutist. During this period, however, Butterfield developed a growing fascination with the blues sounds that filled the South Side, and beginning in 1957 he joined his college-aged companion Nick Gravenites, later recognized as a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, in frequent visits to local blues venues. Inspired to pick up guitar and harmonica, Butterfield and Gravenites started performing together on Midwest college campuses. Following a knee injury that forced him to decline a track scholarship at Brown University, Butterfield enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he encountered fellow white blues enthusiast and guitarist Elvin Bishop. Butterfield had begun developing into a capable vocalist, yet shortly after meeting Bishop he redirected all his musical attention to the harmonica, refining his method, mainly on diatonic rather than chromatic models, and sound; he soon left college to devote himself fully to music.
Following concentrated practice, Butterfield and Bishop started frequenting South Side blues clubs and sitting in at every chance. Often the sole whites in attendance, they gained quick acceptance through their passion and ability. In 1963 Big John's, a North Side venue, granted Butterfield's group a steady engagement; he had already secured Howlin' Wolf's rhythm section by offering bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay higher pay, and had swapped original guitarist Smokey Smothers for his acquaintance Bishop. The resulting quartet immediately impressed audiences with their vigorous renditions of Chicago blues classics. Late in 1964 producer Paul Rothchild discovered the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and after recruiting lead guitarist Michael Bloomfield the group signed with Elektra and cut several tracks intended for a debut album that were ultimately discarded.
Initial tension existed between Butterfield and Bloomfield because the harmonica player modeled his leadership after strict figures such as Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter; within months, however, mutual regard for each musician's abilities prevailed, leading them to perform together regularly in city blues clubs. A track from the abandoned early session, the Nick Gravenites composition "Born in Chicago," appeared on the Elektra compilation Folksong '65 and generated considerable excitement around the band. During summer 1965 they returned to the studio for another attempt at their first album, incorporating organist Mark Naftalin as a sixth member throughout the process. Meanwhile they received an invitation to that year's Newport Folk Festival. Bob Dylan, after hearing their well-received set at an urban blues workshop there, asked the Butterfield Band to accompany him during part of his own performance later that night. Dylan's electric appearance with the group, met with widespread disapproval from acoustic traditionalists, ultimately transformed the folk scene and ignited an electric folk-rock wave that concluded the traditionalist folk revival.
Immediately after their landmark Newport showing, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band issued their self-titled debut album later in 1965. Now viewed as a landmark, the record stirred strong reactions among white blues enthusiasts previously unacquainted with electric Chicago-style blues performed by anyone other than British blues-rock acts. Beyond inspiring countless bar bands, it also guided additional white listeners toward the group's sources, particularly Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Near the close of 1965 drummer Sam Lay became ill and was succeeded by jazz-trained Billy Davenport, whose rhythmic flexibility and refinement soon established him as a lasting member. Davenport proved especially valuable as Butterfield sought to broaden the band's palette, supported by Bloomfield's increasing attraction to Eastern music and especially Ravi Shankar. This expanding range surfaced clearly on their second album, 1966's East-West, widely considered their finest work. The extended instrumental title track wove together blues, jazz, rock, psychedelia, and raga; while it became their defining statement, the remainder of the album proved equally inventive, perhaps partly because Butterfield adopted a more relaxed and collaborative leadership style.
At the peak of the band's achievement in 1967 Mike Bloomfield departed to establish the Electric Flag with Nick Gravenites, aiming to push the eclecticism of East-West still further. Bishop assumed the lead guitar position for the group's third album, 1967's The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, a nod to Bishop's nickname. Reflecting stronger soul elements, the record introduced a fresh rhythm section featuring bassist Bugsy Maugh and drummer Phil Wilson along with a horn section that included a young David Sanborn. Pigboy Crabshaw marked the conclusion of the Butterfield Band's most celebrated era; the 1968 follow-up In My Own Dream lacked consistency in songwriting and direction, prompting both Elvin Bishop and Mark Naftalin to exit before the year ended. Still pursuing a major commercial breakthrough, Elektra enlisted producer and songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, a veteran R&B figure, representing the label's first direct intervention in a Butterfield project. Butterfield resisted the arrangement, preferring a jazz-oriented path beyond Ragovoy's pop-conscious approach; the outcome, 1969's Keep on Moving, proved another uneven effort despite Billy Davenport's return and the vitality added by new nineteen-year-old guitarist Buzzy Feiten. The year 1969 still brought Butterfield notable opportunities, as his band secured a slot at Woodstock and he participated in an all-star Muddy Waters session titled Fathers and Sons that highlighted the Chicago icon's reach among the rising generation of blues players while expanding his audience substantially.
Following 1970's Live and the subsequent studio release Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin', Butterfield disbanded the group and ended his association with Elektra. Weary of constant touring and repeated lineup changes, he withdrew to the communal setting of Woodstock, which remained a musicians' refuge in the early 1970s, and in 1971 assembled a new ensemble later named Better Days. Guitarist Amos Garrett and drummer Chris Parker joined first; with folk duo Geoff and Maria Muldaur aboard, the lineup initially included organist Merl Saunders and bassist John Kahn, both from San Francisco. Without Geoff Muldaur this configuration contributed to the soundtrack of the film Steelyard Blues, yet Saunders and Kahn soon returned to the Bay Area and were replaced by New Orleans pianist Ronnie Barron and Taj Mahal bassist Billy Rich. This configuration, rejoined by Geoff Muldaur and augmented by contributions from singer and songwriter Bobby Charles, issued the group's debut album Better Days in 1972 on Butterfield manager Albert Grossman's new Bearsville label. Although it did not fully equal Butterfield's earliest achievements, the record restored him to critical regard. A successor, It All Comes Back, arrived in 1973 to favorable notices, and in 1975 he again supported Muddy Waters on The Woodstock Album, the final LP issued on Chess.
Butterfield then launched a solo career that yielded progressively weaker results. His Henry Glover-produced solo debut Put It in Your Ear surfaced in 1976 yet drew limited praise, as his harmonica work received less prominence and the songs proved uneven. That same year he appeared in the Band's farewell concert film The Last Waltz. Over the ensuing years Butterfield largely restricted himself to session appearances; he mounted an attempted return in 1981 with legendary Memphis soul producer Willie Mitchell, but the resulting sessions, released as North-South, suffered from synthesizers and weak material. By then Butterfield's health had deteriorated; prolonged heavy drinking had begun to affect him, and he had also developed peritonitis, a painful intestinal ailment. At an undetermined moment his acquaintances remained uncertain exactly when Butterfield had also formed a heroin dependency; having strongly discouraged its use while leading bands, some speculated he sought relief from peritonitis symptoms. He increased his performances in Los Angeles during the early 1980s and eventually settled there permanently; he also toured on a restricted schedule through the mid-1980s and in 1986 issued his final album The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again. His addiction had left him financially strained, and within the previous five years he had endured the deaths of Mike Bloomfield, Muddy Waters, and manager Albert Grossman, each loss affecting him deeply. On May 4, 1987, Butterfield himself succumbed to a drug overdose at just under forty-five years of age.
Butterfield entered the world on December 17, 1942, in Chicago and spent his childhood in Hyde Park, a progressive, mixed neighborhood on the South Side. His father worked as a lawyer while his mother painted, and both supported his musical training from childhood onward; he studied flute through high school under the occasional private guidance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's principal flutist. During this period, however, Butterfield developed a growing fascination with the blues sounds that filled the South Side, and beginning in 1957 he joined his college-aged companion Nick Gravenites, later recognized as a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, in frequent visits to local blues venues. Inspired to pick up guitar and harmonica, Butterfield and Gravenites started performing together on Midwest college campuses. Following a knee injury that forced him to decline a track scholarship at Brown University, Butterfield enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he encountered fellow white blues enthusiast and guitarist Elvin Bishop. Butterfield had begun developing into a capable vocalist, yet shortly after meeting Bishop he redirected all his musical attention to the harmonica, refining his method, mainly on diatonic rather than chromatic models, and sound; he soon left college to devote himself fully to music.
Following concentrated practice, Butterfield and Bishop started frequenting South Side blues clubs and sitting in at every chance. Often the sole whites in attendance, they gained quick acceptance through their passion and ability. In 1963 Big John's, a North Side venue, granted Butterfield's group a steady engagement; he had already secured Howlin' Wolf's rhythm section by offering bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay higher pay, and had swapped original guitarist Smokey Smothers for his acquaintance Bishop. The resulting quartet immediately impressed audiences with their vigorous renditions of Chicago blues classics. Late in 1964 producer Paul Rothchild discovered the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and after recruiting lead guitarist Michael Bloomfield the group signed with Elektra and cut several tracks intended for a debut album that were ultimately discarded.
Initial tension existed between Butterfield and Bloomfield because the harmonica player modeled his leadership after strict figures such as Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter; within months, however, mutual regard for each musician's abilities prevailed, leading them to perform together regularly in city blues clubs. A track from the abandoned early session, the Nick Gravenites composition "Born in Chicago," appeared on the Elektra compilation Folksong '65 and generated considerable excitement around the band. During summer 1965 they returned to the studio for another attempt at their first album, incorporating organist Mark Naftalin as a sixth member throughout the process. Meanwhile they received an invitation to that year's Newport Folk Festival. Bob Dylan, after hearing their well-received set at an urban blues workshop there, asked the Butterfield Band to accompany him during part of his own performance later that night. Dylan's electric appearance with the group, met with widespread disapproval from acoustic traditionalists, ultimately transformed the folk scene and ignited an electric folk-rock wave that concluded the traditionalist folk revival.
Immediately after their landmark Newport showing, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band issued their self-titled debut album later in 1965. Now viewed as a landmark, the record stirred strong reactions among white blues enthusiasts previously unacquainted with electric Chicago-style blues performed by anyone other than British blues-rock acts. Beyond inspiring countless bar bands, it also guided additional white listeners toward the group's sources, particularly Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Near the close of 1965 drummer Sam Lay became ill and was succeeded by jazz-trained Billy Davenport, whose rhythmic flexibility and refinement soon established him as a lasting member. Davenport proved especially valuable as Butterfield sought to broaden the band's palette, supported by Bloomfield's increasing attraction to Eastern music and especially Ravi Shankar. This expanding range surfaced clearly on their second album, 1966's East-West, widely considered their finest work. The extended instrumental title track wove together blues, jazz, rock, psychedelia, and raga; while it became their defining statement, the remainder of the album proved equally inventive, perhaps partly because Butterfield adopted a more relaxed and collaborative leadership style.
At the peak of the band's achievement in 1967 Mike Bloomfield departed to establish the Electric Flag with Nick Gravenites, aiming to push the eclecticism of East-West still further. Bishop assumed the lead guitar position for the group's third album, 1967's The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, a nod to Bishop's nickname. Reflecting stronger soul elements, the record introduced a fresh rhythm section featuring bassist Bugsy Maugh and drummer Phil Wilson along with a horn section that included a young David Sanborn. Pigboy Crabshaw marked the conclusion of the Butterfield Band's most celebrated era; the 1968 follow-up In My Own Dream lacked consistency in songwriting and direction, prompting both Elvin Bishop and Mark Naftalin to exit before the year ended. Still pursuing a major commercial breakthrough, Elektra enlisted producer and songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, a veteran R&B figure, representing the label's first direct intervention in a Butterfield project. Butterfield resisted the arrangement, preferring a jazz-oriented path beyond Ragovoy's pop-conscious approach; the outcome, 1969's Keep on Moving, proved another uneven effort despite Billy Davenport's return and the vitality added by new nineteen-year-old guitarist Buzzy Feiten. The year 1969 still brought Butterfield notable opportunities, as his band secured a slot at Woodstock and he participated in an all-star Muddy Waters session titled Fathers and Sons that highlighted the Chicago icon's reach among the rising generation of blues players while expanding his audience substantially.
Following 1970's Live and the subsequent studio release Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin', Butterfield disbanded the group and ended his association with Elektra. Weary of constant touring and repeated lineup changes, he withdrew to the communal setting of Woodstock, which remained a musicians' refuge in the early 1970s, and in 1971 assembled a new ensemble later named Better Days. Guitarist Amos Garrett and drummer Chris Parker joined first; with folk duo Geoff and Maria Muldaur aboard, the lineup initially included organist Merl Saunders and bassist John Kahn, both from San Francisco. Without Geoff Muldaur this configuration contributed to the soundtrack of the film Steelyard Blues, yet Saunders and Kahn soon returned to the Bay Area and were replaced by New Orleans pianist Ronnie Barron and Taj Mahal bassist Billy Rich. This configuration, rejoined by Geoff Muldaur and augmented by contributions from singer and songwriter Bobby Charles, issued the group's debut album Better Days in 1972 on Butterfield manager Albert Grossman's new Bearsville label. Although it did not fully equal Butterfield's earliest achievements, the record restored him to critical regard. A successor, It All Comes Back, arrived in 1973 to favorable notices, and in 1975 he again supported Muddy Waters on The Woodstock Album, the final LP issued on Chess.
Butterfield then launched a solo career that yielded progressively weaker results. His Henry Glover-produced solo debut Put It in Your Ear surfaced in 1976 yet drew limited praise, as his harmonica work received less prominence and the songs proved uneven. That same year he appeared in the Band's farewell concert film The Last Waltz. Over the ensuing years Butterfield largely restricted himself to session appearances; he mounted an attempted return in 1981 with legendary Memphis soul producer Willie Mitchell, but the resulting sessions, released as North-South, suffered from synthesizers and weak material. By then Butterfield's health had deteriorated; prolonged heavy drinking had begun to affect him, and he had also developed peritonitis, a painful intestinal ailment. At an undetermined moment his acquaintances remained uncertain exactly when Butterfield had also formed a heroin dependency; having strongly discouraged its use while leading bands, some speculated he sought relief from peritonitis symptoms. He increased his performances in Los Angeles during the early 1980s and eventually settled there permanently; he also toured on a restricted schedule through the mid-1980s and in 1986 issued his final album The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again. His addiction had left him financially strained, and within the previous five years he had endured the deaths of Mike Bloomfield, Muddy Waters, and manager Albert Grossman, each loss affecting him deeply. On May 4, 1987, Butterfield himself succumbed to a drug overdose at just under forty-five years of age.
Albums
Live from the Blue Note, Boulder Co., 1979
2016
An Offer You Can't Refuse
2006
The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again
1986
North South
1981
Put It In Your Ear
1976
Singles
Live
