Description
Mike Bloomfield was one of America’s greatest artists of the ’60s—’70s; our country’s answer to Eric Clapton. A skilled guitarist, arranger and writer, Bloomfield popularized his blues heroes’ tunes to an unaware teen audience so they could hear where rock ‘n’ roll’s roots originated.
As a teen in Chicago, Mike was enamoured with the power and originality of such bluesmen as John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins. He obsessively listened to their records, and quickly became a proficient blues guitarist.
By the early 1960s he was leading his own groups at clubs like the Fickle Pickle, Big Johns, McCabe’s (where these recordings were made), and others. He also became one of the most in-demand session musicians, backing the likes of Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, and a host of others. In the mid-1960s Mike joined the incredible Paul Butterfield Blues Band, whose albums for Elektra are still considered classics to this day. Much of the group’s success was due to Bloomfield‘s superb work. That adulation led to a successful break with Paul to form his own group, The Electric Flag.
