Reply #38: He is blues-rock

[Zomby Woof]

Elvin is fantastic. He was the younger of the two hot guitarists (the other being Mike Bloomfield) in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 60's. The song you refer to was from his 70's solo career, and sung by one of his band members. Top 20 hit that year.

He was from Oklahoma, and went to the University of Chicago on a scholarship, because he came from a family of engineers, and was expected to go that route. Instead, he skipped college altogether, and jammed in blues dives all over Chicago, eventually landing a gig with Butterfield.

I always loved that line in the Charlie Daniels song "The South's Gonna Do It": "There's Elvin Bishop sittin' on a bale of hay, he ain't good lookin', but he sure can play..."

I have seen him live 3 times, and the last time, he jumped off stage (this was in Seattle) with his cordless and played across the dance floor, to get to the bar for a beer. I jammed right in front of him on air guitar and he had the biggest grin.

I HIGHLY recommend his albums from Alligator Records out of Chicago. Any of them will do, but "Ace In The Hole" is a good a place as any to begin. He is a hilarious storyteller in his songs, and his guitar does sear and smoke!


http://www.alligator.com