Barry Goldberg

Barry Goldberg (born December 25, 1942, Chicago, Illinois) is a blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter and record producer.

Career

As a teenager in Chicago, Goldberg sat in with Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf. He played keyboards in the band supporting Bob Dylan during his 1965 'electrified' appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. He formed The Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield in 1967, and later formed the Barry Goldberg Reunion in 1968.

Goldberg's songs (some of which co-written with Gerry Goffin) have been recorded by many musicians including Rod Stewart, Gladys Knight, Percy Sledge, Joe Cocker, Steve Miller, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Gram Parsons and B. J. Thomas.

Goldberg's first professional recording session was "Devil With The Blue Dress On" / "Good Golly Miss Molly" by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. Among the albums he contributed to are Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man, The Ramones' End of the Century, Gram Parson's The Gilded Palace of Sin, and Super Session which featured Michael Bloomfield, Stephen Stills, and Al Kooper.

Goldberg also has produced albums by Percy Sledge including Blue Night (Grammy nominated and WC Handy soul album of the year) as well as Shining Through the Rain, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, The Textones plus Bob Dylan's version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".

1992: He played keyboards with the Carla Olson & Mick Taylor band, which resulted in the live CD "Too Hot for Snakes" and also featured the players Ian McLagan, Jesse Sublett (who also wrote the lead track, "Who Put the Sting on the Honey Bee,"), George Callins, Rick Hemmert, Joe Sublett, and Juke Logan.

1994: Blue Night by Percy Sledge produced by Barry Goldberg & Saul Davis and featured Bobby Womack, Steve Cropper, Mick Taylor, Greg Leisz, Bob Glaub, Ed Greene, Mikael Rickfors, the Waters... and songs written by Rickfors, Gregg Sutton, Pat Robinson, Carla Olson, the Bee Gees, Quinton Claunch, Fats Domino, Ois Redding...

2004: Shining Through The Rain by Percy also co-produced by Saul & Barry and featuring Larry Byrom, Denny Freeman, Clayton Ivey, Ed Greene, Phil Upchurch, Bob Glaub, the waters, Jakob Dylan... and songs by the Bee Gees, Mikael Rickfors, Carla Olson, Jackie Lomax, Earl Carson, Bobby Moore.

In 2002, he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album Hey Bo Diddley - A Tribute!, playing piano on the songs "Pills", "I'm A Man" and "Before You Accuse Me". (produced by Carla Olson.)

In 2005-6, he toured with the Chicago Blues Reunion featuring Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, and Corky Siegel. Their debut CD reached #2 on the Billboard Blues Chart and received a four star review from Rolling Stone's David Fricke.

On July 7, 2009 Goldberg's self-titled 1974 album was reissued with never before released tracks and a restored sound. The album was produced by Bob Dylan and Jerry Wexler.

Discography

Albums

• 1966 Blowing My Mind (Epic LP; reissued on CD: Collectables and Acadia)
• 1968 There's No Hole in My Soul (Buddah LP; reissued on CD: One Way)
• 1969 Two Jews Blues (Buddah LP; reissued on CD: One Way)
• 1970 Street Man (Buddah LP)
• 1970 Ivar Avenue Reunion (RCA 4442)
• 1972 Barry Goldberg & Friends (Record Man LP)
• 1974 Blasts from My Past (Buddah LP)
• 1974 Barry Goldberg (Atco LP)
• 1976 Barry Goldberg & Friends Recording Live (Buddah LP)
• 2002 Stoned Again (Antone's/Texas Music Group) produced by Carla Olson and featuring Denny Freeman, Ernie Watts, Mick Taylor, Gregg Sutton...
• 2003 Live (Unidisc)
• 2006 Chicago Blues Reunion (Music Avenue)

Sources

• Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
• Muirhead, Bert. The Record Producers File. A Directory of Rock Album Producers 1962-1984, Blandford Press, 1985.
• Wright, H. Stephen; Limbacher, James L. Keeping Score. Film and Television Music, 1980-1988, Scarecrow Press, 1991.

Interviews

• 2008 Barry Goldberg @The Cabana Club in Hollywood, CA Rehearsals with Barry Goldberg- Jeanie Cunningham of The Composers Corner is the host of this six-part video series.