Now Available: Paul Butterfield, Complete Albums: 1965-1980

Many a musical artist has made their bones by singing the blues, but it's not just about singing them, it's about playing them, too. In the 1960s, many a young Caucasian found success by sitting at the knees of his favorite African-American blues artists, and the best of the bunch were never afraid to give credit where credit was due.

Take Paul Butterfield, for instance, who - along with his buddy Nick Gravenites - spent a good deal of time making the rounds of Chicago blues clubs, meeting and sometimes even jamming with such greats as Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters, all of whom encouraged Mr. Butterfield and his colleague. Although Mr. Gravenites ultimately followed his own path, he nonetheless provided Butterfield with a few compositions which would cement the success of a little musical collective known as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. (Perhaps you're familiar with the ditties “Born in Chicago” and “East-West”?)

If you're a Butterfield fan, then you'll be pleased to learn that you are now able to pick up a copy of Complete Albums: 1965-1980, a 14-CD set which includes all of the full-length efforts that Butterfield released during his time on Elektra Records. Yes, that's right, we're talking about the material he released as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and just plain ol' Paul Butterfield. In addition, you'll also get The Original Lost Elektra Sessions, featuring material which was recorded in 1964 but didn't officially see the light of day until 1995.

Here's the full list of contents:

As you can see, this is a whole mess of blues, and while several of these albums are well-documented as stone cold classics, others are underrated and worthy of reappraisal. How convenient that we've put them all together in one package…and just in time for the holidays, too! (Funny how that worked out…)