Elvin Bishop Source: Pop Culture Madness Date: 09/2008 Writer: n/a

"The Blues Rolls On" harks back to Elvin Bishop's roots, paying tribute to the musicians who inspired him and who also helped give him his start. Supported by an all-star cast of blues royalty featuring B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, George Thorogood, James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Tommy Castro, John Németh, Angela Strehli, plus many more; Bishop leads the way through a smoldering set of searing blues and rollicking R&B.

While Bishop handles a majority of the vocals, he graciously steps aside on several numbers in order to allow his guests ample room to strut their stuff, including rising star and vocal powerhouse John Nemeth, as well as other distinguished personnel that include George Thorogood, Angela Strehli, Ronnie Baker Brooks and R.C. Carrier.

With over 45 years of blues experience under his belt, Bishop is widely recognized and highly respected as a slide guitar master with a history dating all the way back to his electrifying and groundbreaking work in the 60's with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

By assembling a dizzying array of musical talent - age 9 through 82, Bishop has collected together a lifetime's worth of education in the blues into one complete cohesive package; thereby allowing him the opportunity to present and pass along to the younger generation some of what the older guys gave to him. "The Blues Rolls On" is another defining moment in Bishop's long career - a crowning achievement and welcome reminder for all of us that the blues is still alive and well.

"...Elvin has become one of the most respected and beloved artists to come out of the 60's blues-rock explosion" - All About Jazz

"...careening slide and razor-edged bursts, all delivered with unflagging enthusiasm and wit." - Rolling Stone Magazine

"Bishop is a good-hearted soul whose life mission is to entertain to the best of his ability." - Downbeat Magazine

Remembered by many these days as a founding member of the groundbreaking Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Elvin Bishop has also tasted pop success with his 1976 smash hit "Fooled Around and Fell In Love." Bishop's long and varied career has included other musical stops along the way as well, from deep down gutbucket blues played in smoky South Side Chicago taverns, to raucous roadhouse R&B, to rollicking good time rock & roll. And at every stage along the way, he's imbued all of his music with deep passion, a uniquely creative spirit, and more than a little bit of sly humor.

Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Elvin Bishop didn't have much exposure to live music as a youngster. But his family had a radio, and in between the pop schmaltz and the C&W that ruled the airwaves in the 1950s, that radio could sometimes catch the legendary R&B programming beamed throughout the southern part of the U.S. at night by Nashville radio station WLAC. That station introduced Bishop to the classic records of Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, and once his ears had been hooked, there was no turning back for young Elvin. He soon got his first guitar and on his own began scratching out the basic outlines of the blues, R&B and rock & roll that had captured his imagination.

By the time he was preparing to go to college in the late 1950s, Bishop had earned a National Merit Scholarship, allowing him to go to almost any school he chose - and there was only one choice on Elvin's mind, the prestigious University of Chicago, which just happened to be located on Chicago's South side, ground zero for much of the urban blues Elvin had been studying only from a distance. He arrived in Chicago in 1959, and before long crossed paths with a kindred spirit in Paul Butterfield. Together, they explored the ghetto blues clubs in the black neighborhoods surrounding the university campus at a time when blues giants like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Howlin' Wolf could be found playing in neighborhood joints on a weeknight. Elvin soaked it all up, gaining impromptu lessons and invaluable stage time in front of discerning audiences, and forging a fluid yet powerful guitar style of his own.

By 1963, Bishop and Butterfield were ready to graduate - not necessarily from the university, but certainly from their apprenticeship under Chicago's blues elders. Recruiting Howlin' Wolf's former rhythm section of Sam Lay on drums and Jerome Arnold on bass, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was born. In 1965, after adding Mike Bloomfield and Mark Naftalin to the lineup, their revolutionary debut LP was released, kicking open the door for virtually all the young white blues bands that followed.

Bishop remained in the fold for three albums with the Butterfield band, including their innovative "East-West" release (on which Bishop and Bloomfield's intertwining guitars helped set the stage for the Allman Brothers Band among many others who followed), before venturing out on his own. Elvin released four well-received albums on Epic Records in the early '70s, before joining Capricorn Records for a couple of LPs and experiencing his biggest pop success, the national hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" from his 1976 LP "Struttin' My Stuff".

As popular musical trends evolved, the recording projects tapered off, but road work kept Elvin busy through the '80s, and by the time he hooked up with Alligator in 1988, he was returning to his bluesy roots. And that fertile territory has been his focus ever since.

Elvin's brand new release, "The Blues Rolls On" on Delta Groove Music, harks back to his roots, paying tribute to the musicians who inspired him and who also helped give him his start. Supported by an all-star cast of blues royalty featuring B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, George Thorogood, James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Tommy Castro, John Németh, Angela Strehli, plus many more; Bishop leads the way through a smoldering set of searing blues and rollicking R&B. While Bishop handles a majority of the vocals, he graciously steps aside on several numbers in order to allow his guests ample room to strut their stuff, including rising star and vocal powerhouse John Nemeth, as well as other distinguished personnel that include George Thorogood, Angela Strehli, Ronnie Baker Brooks and R.C. Carrier. With over 45 years of blues experience under his belt, Bishop is widely recognized and highly respected as a slide guitar master with a history dating all the way back to his electrifying and groundbreaking work in the 60's with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. By assembling a dizzying array of musical talent - age 9 through 82, Bishop has collected together a lifetime's worth of education in the blues into one complete cohesive package; thereby allowing him the opportunity to present and pass along to the younger generation some of what the older guys gave to him. "The Blues Rolls On" is another defining moment in Bishop's long career - a crowning achievement and welcome reminder for all of us that the blues is still alive and well.