Elvin Bishop Source: NY Daily News Date: 10/2008 Writer: Michael O’ Keefe

Slide guitar great learned about music from John Lee Hooker. He learned about baseball from the legendary bluesman, too.

“I’d go to his house and he’d have four or five TVs in the living room, all turned to baseball games,” says Bishop, a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band who is best known for his 1976 hit “Fooled Around and Fell In Love.”

“He had Dusty Baker’s Dodger uniform in his living room, too,” says Bishop.

Bishop and Baker met at a party at Hooker’s Bay Area home and became fast friends. Bishop grew up in Oklahoma rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals, but he switched allegiances and became a Cubs fan during Baker’s years as Chicago’s manager.  “I loved to sit in the dugout with him and watch batting practice”, says Bishop.

Bishop teamed up with a who’s who of blues musicians for his new album, “The Blues Rolls On” including George Thorogood, James Cotton, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Bishop wanted to bring his homemade strawberry jam to his recording session with B.B. King in Las Vegas, but an airport security guard told him he couldn’t bring the jar on the plane. “The Thrill Is Gone” the guard told Bishop, “and so is your jam.”