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
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Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com
02:01 - Tom joins the podcast for a third episode on the life and career of Paul Butterfield
02:20 - Tom has been continuing his relentless research into Butter
02:38 - Been looking into the way Butter changed his sound from the Better Days period and then again on the Fathers and Sons album
03:50 - Relationship with Muddy Waters after first hearing him in the Chicago Blues clubs
04:31 - Butter’s ex-wife Kathryn told Tom that Butter’s family lived in a modest home in a racially diverse neighbourhood
05:04 - 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
05:47 - 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
06:41 - The Chicago blues musicians, especially Muddy, really nurtured Butter and he would regularly sit in with them on stage
07:31 - Visit to the Chicago Symphony where he heard one of the violins out of tune, highlighting his musical abilities at a young age
08:26 - Tom wrote an article on his Substack site about seeing Butter playing flute in the 1960s
08:51 - Would play classical music with his big band in Woodstock
09:42 - 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
48:28 - The Better Days band decline, partly down to tiring of touring
49:48 - Butter released three solo albums after Better Days disbanded, were a downward spiral
50:58 - Last album of Butter: The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again
51:37 - The two Better Days albums, and The Woodstock albums were his last great albums
52:35 - Still played and toured until the end
52:48 - Tom continues to study Butter and has recently written some articles on him (and others) on his Substack platform
53:34 - Tom might just write a book about Butter, and the source material he already has
