Complete List Of Paul Butterfield Blues Band Members

Feature Photo: Seattle Public Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Chicago’s South Side blues clubs to the stages of Newport and Woodstock, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band rewrote the rules of American blues-rock between 1963 and 1971. Formed in Chicago during the summer of 1963 around harmonica virtuoso Paul Butterfield and guitarist Elvin Bishop, the group became one of the first racially integrated blues bands to achieve broad recognition with rock audiences. The original core also included bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, both veterans of Howlin’ Wolf’s band. Together they helped bridge traditional Chicago blues with the emerging rock counterculture.

Across its eight-year existence, the band released six studio albums while its lineup changed repeatedly around Butterfield, the only constant member. The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw became the band’s highest-charting studio album, reaching number 52 on the Billboard album chart. The group’s sound also expanded dramatically, moving from a tight Chicago blues ensemble toward a larger horn-driven approach that incorporated soul, jazz, and R&B influences. By 1969, the band had developed into a nine-piece unit with a large horn section and increasingly sophisticated arrangements.

The band’s place in music history extends well beyond its record sales. Several Butterfield musicians, including Mike Bloomfield, Jerome Arnold, and Sam Lay, backed Bob Dylan during his controversial electric appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The band’s own 1966 recording “East-West” pushed blues-rock toward extended modal improvisation, drawing on jazz and Eastern musical ideas that became highly influential during the psychedelic era. In 2015, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Mark Naftalin, Jerome Arnold, Sam Lay, and Billy Davenport as members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

The group’s evolution demonstrated remarkable adaptability while preserving a strong connection to Chicago blues. Later lineups featured musicians such as David Sanborn, Gene Dinwiddie, Keith Johnson, Buzzy Feiten, Trevor Lawrence, Steve Madaio, and others who brought jazz, soul, and horn arrangements into the band’s music. Their final studio album, Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’, appeared in 1971 before the group dissolved. The musicians who passed through the band continued to shape blues, rock, jazz, soul, and popular music for decades afterward.

Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield founded the band in the summer of 1963 and remained its only constant member throughout the group’s existence. Born December 17, 1942, in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Butterfield originally studied classical flute with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He later became absorbed in blues harmonica and began frequenting South Side clubs while still a teenager. Those experiences brought him into direct contact with musicians including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter.

Butterfield developed a powerful, immediately recognizable harmonica style and often played the instrument left-handed in an unconventional position. His approach rejected the idea that white musicians had to imitate the blues from a distance. Instead, he learned directly from Chicago players and developed enough authority to lead one of the era’s most important integrated blues groups. His singing and harmonica remained at the center of the band even as its personnel and arrangements changed around him.

Butterfield appeared on every studio album the band released and provided many of its defining vocal and harmonica performances. His work on East-West helped support the album’s mixture of blues, jazz, rock, and modal improvisation. On The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, he led a newly expanded lineup that gave the band its highest Billboard album-chart position. His ability to recruit exceptional musicians allowed the group to keep evolving even after several original members departed.

After the band dissolved in 1971, Butterfield formed Paul Butterfield’s Better Days and continued recording as a solo artist. His later releases included Put It in Your Ear (1976), North South (1981), and The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again (1986). He also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz and continued collaborating with musicians from the blues and rock worlds. Butterfield died on May 4, 1987, at age 44, and the Los Angeles County coroner later ruled the death an accidental overdose involving multiple drugs.

Butterfield was inducted posthumously into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006. Nine years later, he entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Those honors recognized his role in bringing electric Chicago blues to a broad rock audience. His influence remains inseparable from the development of blues-rock in the 1960s.

Mike Bloomfield

Mike Bloomfield joined the band in early 1965 and remained until February 1967, when he left to form the Electric Flag. Born July 28, 1943, in Chicago, Bloomfield grew up in an affluent North Side family but became fascinated with the blues at a young age. He spent his teenage years visiting South Side clubs and learning directly from established blues musicians. That immersion helped him develop into one of the most influential guitarists of the 1960s.

Bloomfield appeared on the band’s first two studio albums, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965) and East-West (1966). His explosive lead playing on the debut helped give the record much of its intensity. On East-West, his modal improvisation became central to the title track’s long-form exploration. The combination of blues phrasing, jazz concepts, and Eastern-influenced ideas helped expand the vocabulary of psychedelic-era guitar playing.

Bloomfield’s career outside the Butterfield band was equally influential. He played on Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, including “Like a Rolling Stone,” and backed Dylan during the famous electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. After leaving Butterfield, he formed the Electric Flag and later recorded Super Session with Al Kooper in 1968. That album became one of his most commercially successful releases and helped popularize the idea of the studio jam album.

Bloomfield continued recording and performing through the 1970s, although his career was increasingly affected by health and personal problems. His blues-based guitar style remained deeply influential on later generations of players. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Butterfield band in 2015. Bloomfield died on February 15, 1981, at age 37.

Elvin Bishop

Elvin Bishop co-founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1963 and remained with the group through 1968. Born October 21, 1942, in Glendale, California, and raised in Oklahoma, Bishop came to Chicago to study physics at the University of Chicago on a National Merit Scholarship. There he met Butterfield and became increasingly involved in the city’s blues scene. His transition from academic life to professional musician became part of the band’s unusual cultural story.

Bishop appeared on the band’s first four studio albums, initially serving as the primary guitarist before Mike Bloomfield joined. With Bloomfield in the lineup, Bishop frequently handled rhythm guitar while continuing to contribute to the band’s ensemble sound. After Bloomfield left in 1967, Bishop moved back into the lead-guitar role. His nickname, “Pigboy Crabshaw,” inspired the title of the band’s third album, The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw.

During his tenure, Bishop contributed songs including “Drunk Again” and “Our Love Is Drifting.” His steady presence helped carry the band through the transition from the original Chicago blues lineup into its horn-driven period. He left after In My Own Dream and relocated to San Francisco. There he launched the solo career that would eventually make him a major blues-rock figure in his own right.

Bishop’s biggest pop success came with “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. He continued recording for labels including Capricorn and Alligator and remained active deep into the 2020s. Bishop was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Butterfield band in 2015 and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016. His later work with the Big Fun Trio continued his long blend of blues, humor, and roots music.

Jerome Arnold

Jerome Arnold was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and served as its bassist from 1963 until 1967. Born November 26, 1936, in Chicago, he was the brother of blues harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold. Before joining Butterfield, Jerome spent years working with Howlin’ Wolf. That experience gave the young integrated band a direct musical connection to the core of Chicago blues.

Arnold formed a powerful rhythm section with drummer Sam Lay and appeared on the band’s first two studio albums. His bass playing provided a steady foundation beneath the contrasting guitar styles of Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. He also brought professional studio experience from his earlier work in the Chicago blues world. That reliability was especially important as the group moved from local clubs into national recording and touring.

While still a member of the Butterfield band, Arnold backed Bob Dylan during the electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. He left Butterfield before the recording of The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw. In later years, Arnold adopted the name Julio Finn and moved to London, where he worked across blues, jazz, and literary projects. He also wrote The Blues Man: The Musical Heritage of Black Men and Women in the Americas.

Arnold remained closely associated with the historic early Butterfield sound even though his tenure lasted only through the first two albums. His playing linked the band directly to Howlin’ Wolf and the Chicago club tradition from which it emerged. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included him among the seven members inducted with the group in 2015. His role in the band’s original rhythm section remains central to its early identity.

Sam Lay

Sam Lay joined as a founding member in 1963 after working with Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf. Born March 20, 1935, in Birmingham, Alabama, Lay became known for a powerful double-shuffle approach rooted partly in the church rhythms he heard growing up. His drumming brought both force and deep blues authenticity to the original Butterfield lineup. He remained with the band until illness forced his departure in late 1965.

Lay appears on the band’s debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, where his drumming became one of the recording’s defining features. He also sang lead on the band’s version of “I Got My Mojo Working,” demonstrating that his role extended beyond the drum kit. His tenure was brief, but the rhythmic character he established remained fundamental to the band’s early sound. Billy Davenport replaced him during the transition into the East-West period.

Lay also played a direct role in Bob Dylan’s move into electric music. He backed Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and played on the title track of Highway 61 Revisited. His broader career included work with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, and many others. He also became known for rare silent home movies he shot inside Chicago blues clubs.

Lay was elected to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992, entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Butterfield band in 2015, and joined the Blues Hall of Fame in 2018. He continued performing into his later years and remained one of the most respected drummers in Chicago blues history. Lay died on January 29, 2022, at age 86. His recordings preserve one of the most distinctive shuffle feels in modern blues drumming.

Mark Naftalin

Mark Naftalin joined the Butterfield band during the 1965 debut-album sessions and remained through 1968. Born August 2, 1944, in Minneapolis, he moved to Chicago in 1961 and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. His keyboard work gave the group additional harmonic range at a moment when it was moving beyond a strictly guitar-and-harmonica blues format. Naftalin quickly became essential to the sound of the band’s first four albums.

He contributed piano and organ to recordings spanning the self-titled debut through In My Own Dream. Naftalin also co-wrote the instrumental “Thank You Mr. Poobah” for the first album. His broad musical background helped support the more adventurous structures that emerged on East-West. By the late 1960s, his keyboard work had become an important bridge between the band’s blues roots and its expanding jazz and rock vocabulary.

After leaving the group, Naftalin moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and continued working with Mike Bloomfield and numerous blues artists. His recording credits eventually included John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush, Percy Mayfield, Van Morrison, James Cotton, and Brewer & Shipley. He also built a substantial career as a producer, label owner, festival organizer, and radio host. His long-running broadcasting work became another major part of his contribution to blues culture.

Naftalin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Butterfield band in 2015. He remained active in broadcasting in 2026 through The Mark Naftalin Show on WPKN-FM in Connecticut. The program continued to feature blues, roots music, and related styles. More than six decades after the Butterfield era, Naftalin remained connected to the music that first brought him national attention.

Billy Davenport

Billy Davenport joined in late 1965 after Sam Lay became ill and remained into 1967. Born April 23, 1931, in Chicago, Davenport brought a stronger jazz orientation to the band’s rhythm section. His arrival coincided with the period when the group was preparing its most adventurous early material. He became the drummer heard throughout the landmark East-West album.

Davenport’s playing was particularly important to the extended improvisation of the title track. His jazz background allowed him to support shifting dynamics and long-form solo development without sacrificing the blues pulse underneath the performance. That rhythmic flexibility helped distinguish East-West from more conventional electric-blues recordings of the era. His work remains a major part of the album’s continuing influence.

Davenport also performed with the Butterfield band at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. His career outside the group remained more closely tied to jazz and blues than the rock mainstream reached by some of his bandmates. Although his tenure was comparatively brief, his contribution came during one of the band’s most historically important periods. He died on December 24, 1999.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included Davenport among the seven Butterfield members inducted in 2015. That recognition reflected the importance of his drumming on East-West and the band’s early national breakthrough. His rhythmic sophistication helped the group move into new musical territory. Davenport’s single studio-album appearance with the band proved enough to secure a lasting place in its history.

David Sanborn

David Sanborn joined the Butterfield band in 1967 as the group expanded its horn section. Born July 30, 1945, in Tampa, Florida, and raised in the St. Louis area, Sanborn took up saxophone as a child while recovering from polio. By his teenage years, he had already performed with blues artists including Albert King and Little Milton. His arrival in Butterfield’s band placed his distinctive alto sound inside one of the most adventurous blues-rock ensembles of the period.

Sanborn appeared on four studio albums, The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, In My Own Dream, Keep On Moving, and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. He also appeared on the 1970 live album Live. His saxophone became a defining voice in the band’s transition from Chicago blues toward a more horn-driven mixture of blues, jazz, soul, and rock. The Butterfield years provided one of the earliest major platforms for the sound that would later make him internationally recognizable.

After leaving the group, Sanborn developed one of the most successful saxophone careers in contemporary music. He released more than 20 albums, won six Grammy Awards, and recorded or performed with artists including David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, James Taylor, and many others. His television career included membership in the Saturday Night Live band and co-hosting Night Music. He also became a prominent radio host and soundtrack musician.

In February 2024, Jazz St. Louis presented Sanborn with the inaugural Steward Center Lifetime Achievement Award in Excellence. He died on May 12, 2024, at age 78 after complications related to prostate cancer. His influence crossed jazz, blues, rock, pop, and R&B even though he frequently resisted narrow genre labels. His years with Butterfield remained an essential early chapter in that extraordinary career.

Gene Dinwiddie

Gene Dinwiddie joined the Butterfield band in 1967 as part of the expanded horn lineup and remained through the group’s dissolution in 1971. Born September 19, 1936, in Louisville, Kentucky, and often billed as “Brother Gene Dinwiddie,” he was one of the older and more experienced members of the ensemble. He had already worked with the James Cotton Blues Band before joining Butterfield. His experience made him an important figure during the band’s shift toward a larger soul-and-jazz-influenced sound.

Dinwiddie appeared on The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, In My Own Dream, Keep On Moving, Live, and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. He contributed saxophone, flute, mandolin, tambourine, vocals, and arranging ideas. His versatility was particularly useful as the band expanded its instrumental palette. At Woodstock, Dinwiddie’s vocal performance on “Love March” demonstrated another side of his contribution.

After the Butterfield band ended, Dinwiddie co-founded Full Moon, a jazz-rock fusion group that included other musicians from the Butterfield orbit. He continued working as a session player with artists including B.B. King, Melissa Manchester, Jackie Lomax, Gregg Allman, and Etta James. His ability to move between blues, soul, jazz, and rock made him a valuable collaborator. Dinwiddie remained active for decades after the Butterfield years.

Dinwiddie’s contribution is sometimes overshadowed by better-known names from the band, but his presence was crucial during its later transformation. His musicianship helped make the horn arrangements feel integrated rather than ornamental. He died on January 11, 2002, in La Puente, California. His recordings document an unusually broad instrumental and vocal role within the group.

Keith Johnson

Keith Johnson joined the Butterfield band in 1967 as part of the first major horn-section expansion. A tall, jazz-trained trumpeter, Johnson also doubled on keyboards and organ when arrangements required it. He became an important part of the lineup heard on The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw and In My Own Dream. His work helped move the band toward a more orchestrated R&B and jazz-influenced direction.

Johnson also contributed to Keep On Moving before leaving the group in 1969. His trumpet playing became part of the layered horn writing that distinguished the later Butterfield sound from the group’s earlier guitar-centered approach. He also appeared with the band during the Monterey Pop Festival period. By the time the 1970 live album was recorded, Johnson was no longer part of the lineup.

After leaving Butterfield, Johnson worked with Elephant’s Memory and contributed to sessions for other artists. His later credits included work associated with Van Morrison, and he became musical director for Etta James during the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s. Johnson also worked in radio in Oregon, extending his involvement with music beyond performance. His career reflected the broad jazz, blues, and R&B background he brought into the Butterfield band.

Johnson died on May 27, 2021, in Eugene, Oregon. His contribution to the band’s horn-driven period remains particularly important on the 1967 and 1968 albums. He helped establish the brass-and-reed approach that later lineups would expand even further. His presence marked one of the key turning points in the group’s musical evolution.

Buzzy Feiten

Howard “Buzzy” Feiten joined the Butterfield band in late 1968 and remained through 1969, replacing Elvin Bishop as the principal guitarist. Born November 4, 1948, in Huntington Station, New York, Feiten had studied French horn and brought substantial formal training to the group. His technical precision suited a band that was moving into increasingly complex horn arrangements. He also contributed keyboards, piano, French horn, vocals, and guitar.

Feiten appears on Keep On Moving and was part of the Butterfield lineup that performed at Woodstock in August 1969. He was 20 years old at the time, making him one of the youngest musicians in the group. His guitar work had to operate inside a dense ensemble rather than dominate the arrangements. That discipline made his playing an effective bridge between the band’s blues foundation and its growing jazz and soul influences.

After leaving Butterfield, Feiten joined the Rascals for their later recordings and became a highly regarded session guitarist. His credits included work with Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and many other artists. He also became known for developing the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, designed to improve guitar intonation. That technical innovation added another dimension to a career already distinguished by high-level performance work.

Feiten’s 1972 album Full Moon, recorded with other musicians from the Butterfield orbit, became another notable part of his post-band career. His combination of blues phrasing, technical control, and broad musical training made him an unusual fit for late-1960s blues-rock. In the Butterfield band, that range was precisely what the changing ensemble required. His relatively short tenure left a distinct mark on the group’s 1969 period.

Trevor Lawrence

Trevor Lawrence joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1969 as the horn section expanded again. A versatile saxophonist, Lawrence brought professional session experience and a strong command of baritone and tenor saxophone. His arrival coincided with the recording of Keep On Moving. He remained with the group through its dissolution in 1971.

Lawrence appears on Keep On Moving, Live, and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. His baritone work added weight to the horn arrangements and helped create the larger ensemble sound heard during the band’s final phase. The 1970 live recordings show how well that approach translated from the studio to the stage. His professional experience made him especially valuable as the band’s arrangements became more demanding.

After Butterfield, Lawrence built an extensive career as a session musician, arranger, and producer. His credits included work with the Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Etta James, and many other artists. He also co-produced and arranged material for the Pointer Sisters. His career demonstrated the same stylistic range that had made him useful in Butterfield’s late-period ensemble.

Lawrence’s influence continued through both his own work and his musical family. His son, Trevor Lawrence Jr., became a prominent drummer and producer. The elder Lawrence’s career crossed rock, soul, R&B, jazz, and pop without being confined to one scene. His Butterfield years were an early chapter in a long and successful studio career.

Steve Madaio

Steve Madaio joined the Butterfield band in 1969 as another trumpeter in the expanding horn section. Born July 18, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York, Madaio studied at the Mannes College of Music, where he knew Buzzy Feiten. That connection helped lead to his recruitment into the group. His formal training gave him the technique required for the increasingly elaborate arrangements of the band’s final years.

Madaio appears on Keep On Moving, Live, and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. He contributed trumpet, percussion, and backing vocals and performed with the band at Woodstock in 1969. Because he did not join until 1969, he was not part of the Butterfield band’s 1967 Monterey Pop Festival appearance. His trumpet became a consistent voice in the horn section through the band’s final recordings.

After Butterfield, Madaio became one of the most prolific session trumpeters in popular music. He worked extensively with Stevie Wonder during the 1970s and appeared on recordings by John Lennon, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. His sound became part of the horn-driven texture heard across numerous major recordings. The breadth of those credits reflected his ability to adapt quickly to different studio environments.

Madaio died on January 22, 2019, at age 70. His professional career had stretched across more than five decades. Although his Butterfield tenure lasted only a few years, it placed him inside one of the most ambitious late-1960s blues-rock horn sections. That experience anticipated the session career that followed.

Additional Later Members

Several additional musicians served important roles as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band changed lineups after 1967. Charley “Bugsy” Maugh replaced Jerome Arnold on bass in 1967 and remained through 1969, appearing on The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw and In My Own Dream. Phillip Wilson replaced Billy Davenport on drums in 1967 and remained into 1969, contributing to the same horn-driven period before pursuing a notable jazz career. Their arrival marked the first major reconstruction of the band’s original rhythm section.

Rod Hicks replaced Maugh on bass in 1969 and remained through the band’s final year, appearing on Keep On Moving, Live, and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. Ted Harris joined on keyboards and piano in 1969 and remained into 1970, adding another layer to the expanded ensemble. Ralph Wash became the principal guitarist after Buzzy Feiten’s departure and served from late 1969 through 1971. These musicians formed much of the rhythm and harmonic core heard on the band’s final live and studio recordings.

George Davidson served as drummer from late 1969 into 1970 and appears on the 1970 live-era material as well as two tracks later issued on Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’. Dennis Whitted replaced Davidson and remained through the band’s final year, playing drums and contributing backing vocals on the last studio album. Their successive tenures completed the drum-chair history that had begun with Sam Lay, Billy Davenport, and Phillip Wilson. Davidson’s omission from many abbreviated band histories can make the late-period personnel sequence appear less complete than it actually was.

Additional Final-Album Contributors

The final album also included important guest percussionists who were not regular touring members of the core lineup. Bobbye Hall contributed congas and bongos, while percussionist Big Black added congas, percussion, and vocals. Their work can be heard on tracks including “Blind Leading the Blind” and “Song for Lee.” These contributions expanded the rhythmic palette of Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’ without making either musician a long-term band member.

By the time the Paul Butterfield Blues Band dissolved in 1971, roughly 20 musicians had served in its principal working lineups, with additional guests appearing on individual recordings. That unusually fluid membership allowed the group to move from hard Chicago blues into blues-rock, soul, jazz, and large-ensemble experimentation without ever losing Butterfield’s harmonica and voice as its center. Many of those musicians went on to major careers of their own. The band’s history is therefore not only the story of Paul Butterfield, but also the story of an extraordinary network of players who carried its influence throughout American music.