Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield (December 17, 1942 - May 4, 1987) was an American blues musician, and one of the most innovative harmonica players of the electric blues Chicago-originated style. Butterfield began performing in the Chicago area as a teen, and he soon formed a band with Jerome Arnold[?] and Sam Lay[?] (both of Howlin' Wolf's band), and Elvin Bishop[?]. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was signed to Elektra[?] after adding Michael Bloomfield[?] as lead guitarist. Their original debut album was scrapped and re-recorded after adding organist Mark Naftalin[?] and playing at the Newport Folk Festival[?], where they backed-up Bob dylan[?] as he famously plugged-in. Their self-titled debut, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band[?] was finally released in 1965 (1965 in music). Soon after the release, Lay became very sick and was replaced by Billy Davenport[?] on drums. Influenced greatly by Ravi Shankar and other eastern musicians, the band's second album was East-West[?] (1966 in music), a critically acclaimed hit.

At the height of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's success, Mike Bloomfield formed Electric Flag[?] with Nick Gravenites[?] and Bishop began playing lead guitar for The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw[?] (1967 in music). The album included David Sanborn[?], Bugsy Maugh[?] and Phil Wilson[?], and was a commercial failure that stunted the band's career. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a series of releases to a small and devoted cult following. Paul Butterfield finally died of a drug overdose in 1987.