As Bob Dylan once said: “When it came time to hire a guitar player, I didn’t even think about it. Mike Bloomfield was the best guitar player I ever heard.” Coming from a rich neighbourhood in Chicago, Bloomfield's talent caused for him to be noticed and respected early on by other great names such as Muddy Waters. What followed was one a career that most guitarrists could only dream of, playing in two great bands The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag, while getting to know and play with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Claption and Stephen Stills. But sadly his career would take a nose dive which coupled with a heroin addiction would cause him to overdose and die at the early age of 37.
Thank you for watching!
Research links:
https://www.loudersound.com/features/mike-bloomfield-story
https://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/dylan-bloomfield-and-me
https://www.daysofthecrazy-wild.com/michael-bloomfield-talks-about-how-bob-dylan-changed-he-had-a-wall-around-him-and-i-couldnt-reach-through-it/
https://www.reddit.com/r/bobdylan/comments/1assznz/dylan_and_mike_bloomfield_in_the_studio/
https://cartervintage.com/blog/the-importance-of-being-michael-bloomfield
https://www.winnetkahistory.org/gazette/mike-bloomfield-guitarist-the-brilliant-guitarist-who-was-booted-from-new-trier/
https://forward.com/culture/428101/our-forgotten-guitar-hero-michael-bloomfield/
https://mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/biography.html
https://mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/chronology.html
https://archive.ph/ei5b
https://www.mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/bloomweb07/interview1.htm