Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio w/Curtis Salgado | Oct. 15 | Crystal Bay Casino | Crystal Bay, Nev.
Elvin Bishop is busy these days. Following a gig at Mountain Winery in Saratoga with Buddy Guy, he’s meeting Van Morrison in Sausalito to play on his upcoming blues album. Then off to Arizona and Southern California for a tour with Charlie Musselwhite.
“I’ve got a lot going on,” says the cherished musician from Marin County who turns 80 this month. “It’s fun to be around guys who do what they do really well.”
Bishop arrives at Crystal Bay Casino on Oct. 15 with his trio featuring Bob Welsh on guitar and piano and Willy Jordan on cajon and vocals. Don’t be surprised if he’s sporting his trademark overalls.
“I’ve been wearing those since I was 2 years old,” he says. “I grew up on a farm, so it was natural.”
Bishop was born in Glendale in 1942. His family moved to Elliot, Iowa and then Tulsa, Okla. when he was age 10.
“It was all I knew at the time,” he says. “Oklahoma is a really, heavily red-state type of deal, you know. This was before civil rights, so it was pretty hardcore. I learned about blues listening to the radio.”
Though he listened spellbound to contemporary masters such as John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Percy Mayfield and Jimmy McCracklin, Bishop’s early ventures into popular music were hindered by cheap pawn-shop guitars and a lack of interest from his peers. A talented student, he was awarded a National Merit Scholarship to study physics at University of Chicago. He eventually switched to English and dropped out after a year and a half. His interest was always in music and Chicago had blues to spare.
[“Fooled Around and Fell in Love”] is a pretty good song that anyone could get into. I asked the lawyer who does the contracts on it, ‘Aren’t people gonna get tired of this?’ She said, ‘It’s the story of every movie ever made, just about.’ –Elvin Bishop
“The lightbulb was burning, but I was pretty green when I got there,” he says. “I made friends with the Black guys at the university cafeteria. In a week, I was out in the ghetto seeing the blues with those guys. I spent 24 hours a day in the ghetto learning the blues.”
Bishop’s first concert was Muddy Waters whose backing band consisted of verifiable blues legends Otis Spann, James Cotton and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith.
“They were much nicer than they needed to be,” he says of the Chicago bluesmen. “They took us under their wing and taught us the music. It was the best place I could’ve been at the time, that’s for sure.”
Bishop met Paul Butterfield walking around the neighborhood his first day in town.
“This guy was sitting in front of a house playing guitar and drinking a quart of beer,” says Bishop. “He was playing the blues and I said, ‘This is my type of guy.’ Then he took up the harmonica and went straight to the stratosphere.”
Bishop played in the wildly popular Paul Butterfield Blues Band from 1963 to 1968, a group of both black and white musicians.
“It was ahead of its time,” says Bishop. “It caused us some problems on the road. Some hotels wouldn’t let us stay there. We got caught in couple of riots when those were happening in Cleveland and Detroit.”
Bishop’s biggest hit, of course, is “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” which hit No. 3 on the Billboard charts in 1976. The song has since been in more than 20 films and continues to be part of popular culture to this day.
“It’s a pretty good song that anyone could get into,” he says. “I asked the lawyer who does the contracts on it, ‘Aren’t people gonna get tired of this?’ She said, ‘It’s the story of every movie ever made, just about.’”
Bishop was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 as part of Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
“Better to be in there than not,” he says. “I’m not that great of a guitar player. There’s quite a few guys who can beat me. But I do the best I can and try to make people happy.” | crystalbaycasino.com
