The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Elektra EKS-7294 

I have written a couple of times in the Curt’s Blues blog of being a fan of rock-n-roll before becoming completely captured by the blues, and how an occurrence at a rock concert in the 1970s directed me towards the blues, a path I may have not chosen, or at least would have been delayed, if not for the concert episode in question.

And I do not think that my blues conversion was in any way unique.  I resolutely trust that countless individuals, mostly Caucasians, have come to the blues through some aspect of the music of their rock-n-roll musical heroes.  Whether that be through a unit like Canned Heat who have the blues at their core, perhaps Jimi Hendrix and his at-times bluesy wanderings, maybe one of the 1970s British hard rock bands using standard blues structure progressions to frame their songs, possibly someone of a heightened cross-over standing like Stevie Ray Vaughn, or a group such as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the conversion to the blues through these channels cannot be denied.

In 1965, Elektra released The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, by a band that hailed from Chicago, Illinois whose influences included post-war blues giants including Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Elmore James, and Howlin’ Wolf, among others.  Here, in the mid-1960s, were three Caucasians frantically in love with the music they were hearing primarily on Chicago’s south side combining forces with a Black drummer and bassist, ultimately founding a joined rank of blues talent that presented the music with an abandon, creating a concentration of intensity and fervor that could not be denied.  This was something completely new; an integrated Chicago blues band.  While this was the music of their exalted Chicago blues influences, it contained an energy, volume, pace, and worship that is unarguable.

While young Brits were discovering American blues music and studying it, interpreting it, and reinventing it in a new image during the same mid-1960s timeframe, what Butterfield and his crew here were doing was awakening the blues in the eyes and ears of Americans, primarily younger Caucasian folks. 

The model Butterfield’s band adopted was loud, frantic, somewhat untidy, and definitely rowdy.  It was American blues reimagined, and was for the time, in retrospect, the nudging that the blues needed to be more fully considered in the ears of young fans and burgeoning performers.  And in the end, Butterfield’s music not only thrilled and influenced Caucasian fans and interpreters, but Blacks, as well.

The 1960s were definitely a period of change, rebellion, and questioning in America.  And, Chicago played a prominent role in the social upheaval that was taking place.  In a sense, what Butterfield and his crew were fashioning was also a disruption.  A blues disruption.

If you are looking for that moment when the blues escaped the south and west sides of Chicago with all its new fury and passion, opening ears and minds to a new framework for the music, this is the place to start.  The blues purists probably will never embrace this collection as “true” blues, but academically, this remains an important moment in the blues’ history.  

Highly-recommended, indeed!