Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield is simply one of the most important figures in the history of American blues, and I don't think he gets nearly the credit he deserves outside of serious music circles. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago and actually sitting in with Muddy Waters as a teenager — that's not a resume line, that's a baptism. His harmonica playing was ferocious and technically brilliant in a way that felt almost impossible for a white kid from Hyde Park, and he took that raw Chicago blues and injected it into the rock world at exactly the right moment. His set at Woodstock, his work on the Band's recording sessions, the way he stretched blues into jazz territory on "East-West" — it all holds up. Gone at 44, which is a genuine tragedy for American music.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Paul Butterfield

Name (Japanese)

ポール・バターフィールド

Reading

ぽーる・ばたーふぃーるど

Born

December 17, 1942 – May 4, 1987

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Horse

Origin

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Occupation

harmonicist / singer / songwriter / musician

High school

Hyde Park Academy High School

University

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%20Butterfield
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q918576

Tags

• Illinois
• harmonicist
• singer
• songwriter

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.