Elvin Bishop

All Music Guide:

A veteran guitarist who fused the blues with gospel, R&B, and country traditions, Elvin Bishop was born in Glendale, CA, on October 21, 1942. He grew up on a farm in Iowa with no electricity or running water, and eventually moved to Oklahoma with his family when he was ten. Raised in an all-White community, his only exposure to African-American traditions was the radio, which introduced him to the sounds of blues stations in Shreveport, LA. The piercing sound of Jimmy Reed's harmonica won his attention; Bishop would later liken it to a crossword puzzle that he had to figure out. What was this music? Who made it? What was it all about? Inspired, he began to put the pieces together.

However, it was not until he won a National Merit Scholarship to the University of Chicago in 1959 that Bishop found the real answers to his questions. He found himself in the middle of the Chicago blues scene and immersed himself in the genre. After two years of college, Bishop dropped out and pursued music full time, eventually meeting Howlin' Wolf's guitarist Smokey Smothers and learning the basics of blues guitar from him. In the early '60s, Bishop teamed up with Paul Butterfield helped form the core of the Butterfield Blues Band. Although he had only played guitar for a few years, he practiced frequently and played with Butterfield in just about every place possible, including campuses, houses, parks, and -- in the venue that helped launch the band -- Big John's on Chicago's North Side. Bishop also helped shape the sound of several Butterfield albums, including The Pigboy Crabshaw, whose title refers to Bishop's countrified persona.

In 1968, Elvin Bishop left Butterfield's band following the release of In My Own Dream. He launched a solo career and relocated to the San Francisco area, where he made frequent appearances at the Filmore with artists like Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and the Allman Brothers Band. Bishop recorded for four albums for Epic Records and later signed with Capricorn in 1974. His recording of "Traveling Shoes" (from the album Let It Flow) made a dent on the charts, but the single "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (from Struttin' My Stuff) made a bigger splash in 1976 when it peaked at number 3 on the Billboard charts. Over the next few years, the Elvin Bishop Group dissolved. He released his album Best Of in 1979 and lay low for several years, eventually resurfacing when he signed with the Alligator label in 1988.

Bishop then released Big Fun in 1988 and Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down in 1991, both of which were well received. He also participated in Alligator's 1992 20th Anniversary cross-country tour; three years later, he toured with veteran bluesman B.B. King and released an album entitled Ace in the Hole. The Skin I'm In followed in 1998, and 2000's That's My Partner saw him teaming up with Smokey Smothers, the same musician who had originally taught him guitar. After a five-year hiatus, Bishop released Gettin' My Groove Back in 2005 via Blind Pig Records; he then jumped to the Delta Groove Music label for 2008's The Blues Rolls On, which featured guest spots by B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, and others.

Wikipedia:

Elvin Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.

Career

Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old. There he attended Will Rogers High School, winning a full scholarship to the University of Chicago as a National Merit Scholar finalist. Upon graduation, he moved to Chicago in 1960 to attend school, where he majored in physics. In 1963, he met harmonica player Paul Butterfield in the neighborhood of Hyde Park and joined Butterfield's blues band, with whom he remained for five years. Their third album, The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, takes its name from Bishop's nickname. In 1968 he went solo and formed the Elvin Bishop Group, also performing with Bloomfield and Al Kooper on their album titled The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. The group signed with Fillmore Records, which was owned by Bill Graham, who also owned the music venues of the same name.

In March 1971, The Elvin Bishop Group and The Allman Brothers Band co-billed a series of concerts at the Fillmore East. Bishop joined The Allman Brothers Band onstage for a rendition of his own song, "Drunken Hearted Boy". Over the years, Bishop has recorded with many other blues artists including Clifton Chenier and John Lee Hooker. In late 1975, he played guitar for a couple of tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll album, and in 1995, he toured with B.B. King.

Bishop made an impression on album-oriented rock FM radio stations with "Travelin' Shoes" in 1975, but a year later, in 1976, Bishop released his most memorable single, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", which peaked at #3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart (and #34 in the UK charts). The recording featured vocalist Mickey Thomas and drummer Donny Baldwin who both later joined Jefferson Starship. The song was featured in the films Summer of Sam, Boogie Nights, The Devil's Rejects, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Bishop feels that the limitations of his voice have helped his songwriting.

Bishop appeared at the 1984 Long Beach Blues Festival. In 1988, he signed with Alligator Records and released Big Fun featuring Whit Lehnberg & The Carptones, 1991's Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down, 1995's Ace in the Hole, 1998's The Skin I'm In and 2000's That's My Partner, on which he paired with an early Chicago blues teacher, Little Smokey Smothers. He later revisited Smothers in the studio, where the two recorded another album in 2009; Little Smokey Smothers & Elvin Bishop: Chicago Blues Buddies.

Bishop's Alligator Records releases have been consistently well conceived.

In 2005, Bishop released his first new CD in five years, Gettin' My Groove Back. In 2008, Bishop released The Blues Roles On, on September 23, 2008, switching labels to Delta Groove Music. He was supported by B. B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, George Thorogood, James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Tommy Castro, John Nemeth and Angela Strehli. The album was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. In 2010, Bishop released Red Dog Speaks.

Elvin sat in with the Grateful Dead on June 8, 1969 at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. He opened the second set with the lengthy blues jam, (Turn on Your Lovelight) without Pigpen or Jerry. He plays 2 more songs with the Dead, "The Things I Used To Do" and "Who's Lovin' You Tonight". http://www.archive.org/details/gd1969-06-08.sbd.thecore.4512.sbeok.shnf

Bishop was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

Personal life

Bishop's daughter Selina and ex-wife Jennifer Villarin were murdered in August 2000 by Glenn Taylor Helzer, his brother Justin Helzer, and accomplice Dawn Godman. According to The Point Reyes Light, "Bishop, her mother Jenny Villarin, and a friend of Villarin, James Gamble, were murdered as part of an elaborate scheme to extort $100,000 from elderly Concord, California residents Ivan and Annette Stineman". Also related cousin Russell Bishop