Paul Butterfield (17 December 1942 – 4 May 1987) was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player who gained international recognition as a trailblazing white bluesman, and who performed at the original Woodstock Festival. Butterfield formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 60's which contained a number of notable sidemen, some of whom went on to solo careers.
The son of a lawyer, Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago's H...
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Paul Butterfield (17 December 1942 – 4 May 1987) was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player who gained international recognition as a trailblazing white bluesman, and who performed at the original Woodstock Festival. Butterfield formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 60's which contained a number of notable sidemen, some of whom went on to solo careers.
The son of a lawyer, Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. After studying classical flute with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a teenager, he developed a love for the blues harmonica, and hooked up with white, blues-loving, University of Chicago physics student Elvin Bishop (later of "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" fame). The pair started hanging around black blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Otis Rush. Butterfield and Bishop soon formed a band with Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay (both of Howlin' Wolf's band). In 1963, a...
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