Paul Butterfield retrospective, part 3, with Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis joins me on episode 132 for another look into the life and career of the legendary Paul Butterfield. 

Butter gained access to the Chicago blues scene at a young age when his lawyer father carried out pro bono work for some of the musicians there. The black blues musicians took a paternal interest in Paul’s musical development, none more so than Muddy Waters who knew Butter from around the age of sixteen. Butter later returned the favour after having made his own name. He gave something back to Muddy by recording the Fathers and Sons album with him in 1969, followed by a second album with Muddy, The Woodstock album in 1975.

Tom then goes on to tell us about how Butter changed his sound during the middle part of his career with the release of the two Better Days albums in 1973, producing possibly the first Americana albums, and seeing Butter having developed into a more nuanced harmonica player.

Links:

Tom article on Substack platform: https://ellist.substack.com/p/down-by-the-river

Article on the Super Cosmic Joy-Scout Jamboree concert (Father and Sons): https://bobsblog73.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/super-cosmic-joy-scout-jamboree-april-1969/

Fathers and Sons album blog by David Hawkins: https://paulbutterfield.blogspot.com/2014/03/37-fathers-and-sons.html

Butter on the Woodstock album blog by David Hawkins: https://paulbutterfield.blogspot.com/2016/10/61-muddy-waters-woodstock-album.html

Videos:

Mannish Boy in Last Waltz concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGG-oBrmzbQ

Butter on Midnight Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZhfIOuiPe4

Bonnie Raitt live with Butter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOdeROUz2U

Playing Why Are People Like That on David Letterman show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvdTabtRN0

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

Chapters

• 2:01 Tom joins the podcast for a third episode on the life and career of Paul Butterfield
• 2:20 Tom has been continuing his relentless research into Butter
• 2:38 Been looking into the way Butter changed his sound from the Better Days period and then again on the Fathers and Sons album
• 3:50 Relationship with Muddy Waters after first hearing him in the Chicago Blues clubs
• 4:31 Butter’s ex-wife Kathryn told Tom that Butter’s family lived in a modest home in a racially diverse neighbourhood
• 5:04 Butter’s lawyer father did a lot of pro bono work for the black blues musicians, which gave the young Butter access to the black blues clubs
• 5:47 Butter may have started attending the Chicago blues clubs from age 16 and was looked after by the musicians because of the work his father did for them
• 6:41 The Chicago blues musicians, especially Muddy, really nurtured Butter and he would regularly sit in with them on stage
• 7:31 Visit to the Chicago Symphony where he heard one of the violins out of tune, highlighting his musical abilities at a young age
• 8:26 Tom wrote an article on his Substack site about seeing Butter playing flute in the 1960s
• 8:51 Would play classical music with his big band in Woodstock
• 9:42 Flute lessons added some musical knowledge, and his brother’s record collection exposed him to jazz
• 10:09 Met Nick Gravenites who also had links into the black blues community
• 11:02 Butter and Bloomfield helped promote the Chicago musicians which had been such an influence on them
• 11:18 Live Better Days album intro points to how Butter helped in spread the blues around the US
• 12:43 Once Butter had established his band he was able to give back some of the help Muddy had given him when younger
• 13:11 Fathers and Sons album with Muddy Waters was released in 1969
• 14:01 Mike Bloomfield initially raised the idea of the Fathers and Sons album with Marshall Chess
• 14:11 Lot of planning went into the Fathers and Sons album, including the songs to include and the musicians
• 14:42 Couldn’t rehearse the Fathers and Sons album quite as much as Butter would have liked
• 15:09 The studio part of the album has some of Muddy’s slightly lesser known songs
• 16:14 Fathers and Sons album was Muddy’s most commercially successful album, reaching number 70 in the Billboard charts
• 17:38 Butter was never going to join The Muddy Waters Band
• 18:13 Butter’s approach to the Muddy Waters songs on the Fathers and Sons album is modern and unlike anyone else
• 20:18 Second part of the Fathers and Sons double album, was a live recording from Chicago
• 22:42 The live recording was around the same time as the studio recordings
• 22:55 The audience at the live concert were probably more there for Butter and Bloomfield than for Muddy
• 23:52 The Super Cosmic Joy-Scout Jamboree festival was mainstream, not a blues festival
• 24:56 Fathers and Sons was produced by Mike Bloomfield’s close friend, Norman Dayron
• 25:42 Second album Butter recorded with Muddy was The Woodstock Album in 1975, produced by Henry Glover, who was a pivotal figure in American music
• 27:45 Muddy was well looked after in Woodstock and the album won the only Grammy Muddy was ever awarded: for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1976
• 28:35 The Woodstock Album was the last Muddy album recorded on Chess records
• 28:40 Muddy’s two most successful albums is when he was playing with Butter
• 29:02 Tried to recreate the ‘live in the studio’ sound on The Woodstock album, and did Butter use a Green Bullet mic on some of the recordings?
• 29:31 Butter did change his sound on the The Woodstock Album
• 30:47 Butter’s characteristic sound of a Shure 545 into a Fender Twin amp and the ability of him to shape his sound over that provided by a Green Bullet mic
• 30:56 Performed at The Last Waltz concert with Muddy on Mannish Boy
• 32:15 Muddy was comfortable with Butter on stage with him as he had known him since he was a teenager
• 32:35 Some of the (quite rare) video of Butter performing
• 34:36 Butter performed Why Do People Act Like That on the David Letterman show
• 35:53 Tom got to hold Butter’s mic
• 36:25 The first mic Butter played was a Shure PE54, not a 545
• 37:20 Played the 545 up until the end
• 38:32 Probably didn’t stay so close to Muddy in his later years
• 39:51 Better Days band was real first Americana band and the band members which made it up
• 43:03 The second Better Days album: It All Comes Back
• 44:25 Harmonica playing on the two Better Days albums isn’t so forceful as earlier output, but more subtle and brought the harmonica to a mainstream audience
• 45:37 Didn’t want to call the band Paul Butterfield’s Better Days as a testament to the great musicians in the band, but the record label insisted
• 47:08 The environment at Woodstock was critical to the sound of the Better Days band
• 47:33 Importance of Bobby Charles to Better Days: writing lots of the songs
• 48:24 The Better Days band decline, partly down to tiring of touring
• 49:44 Butter released three solo albums after Better Days disbanded, were a downward spiral
• 50:54 Last album of Butter: The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again
• 51:33 The two Better Days albums, and The Woodstock albums were his last great albums
• 52:31 Still played and toured until the end
• 52:44 Tom continues to study Butter and has recently written some articles on him (and others) on his Substack platform
• 53:30 Tom might just write a book about Butter, and the source material he already has