The South Side White Kid’s Blues
“Chicago filmmaker John Anderson’s 2018 documentary Horn from the Heart: the Paul Butterfield Story is a detailed and passionate tribute to the life and career of Chicago vocalist and harmonica player Paul Butterfield,” Daniel Patton writes for Reel Chicago.
“Known to most fans as an incomparable musician, Butterfield was also an influential bandleader, a charismatic performer, a fierce civil rights advocate and a cultural revolutionary.
“While documenting the life of the Hyde Park native, Anderson recounts a bluesy chapter of Chicago history, explains an evolution of American music, and describes Butterfield’s commitment to desegregation.
“With an endless supply of first-hand accounts, vintage clips, historic photos, and old concert posters, he amplifies the harmonica player’s influence on the nation’s cultural transformation from acoustic folk to psychedelic improvisation during the 1960s.”
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Trailer:
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From the website:
“A white, teen-age harmonica player from Chicago’s South Side, Paul learned the blues from the original black masters performing nightly in his own backyard. Muddy Waters was Paul’s mentor and lifelong friend, happy to share his wisdom and expertise with such a gifted young acolyte.
“The interracial Paul Butterfield Blues Band, featuring the twin guitar sound of Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, the rhythm section of Sam Lay and Jerome Arnold, and the keyboards of Mark Naftalin, added a rock edge to the Chicago blues, bringing an authenticity to its sound that struck a chord with the vast white rock audience, and rejuvenated worldwide interest in the blues. The band’s first LP, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, released on Elektra Records in 1965, was named “#11 Blues Album of All Time” by Downbeat.
“The only artist to perform at The Newport Folk Festival in 1965, The Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969, Paul would continue to break new ground in the blues and to stand up for racial equality until his death at age 44 in 1987 of a drug overdose.”
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Previously in Paul Butterfield:
* The item “Born in Chicago” from Chicago in Song: Hater’s Paradise.
* The item “Born in Chicago” from Local Music Notebook: Chicago’s Door & Prince’s Protege.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on November 7, 2018