Blues Rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg dies at 83

Blues rock great Barry Goldberg has died in hospice care after a ten-year struggle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Gail Goldberg, his wife of 53 years, and son Aram were at this bedside  The noted keyboard player, band leader, session man and songwriter was 83.  Most recently he headed the Chicago Blues Reunion, a band that over the past two decades toured and recorded with an array of seasoned blues practitioners including Sam Lay, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel, Tracy Nelson, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmy Vivino, Marcy Levy and others. 

Barry Goldberg, the centerpiece of the documentary film Born in Chicago, was in fact born in the Windy City on Christmas Day,1941. His mother Nettie Goldberg, née Nettie Becker, was a barrelhouse piano player in her own right and a veteran of the Jewish theater circuit. His father Frank Goldberg was one of eight children born to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant parents, including US Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.

While still in high school, Goldberg befriended guitarist Mike Bloomfield; the two often ventured from Chicago’s northern suburbs to the inner city night clubs on the South Side where they, along with Paul Butterfield, Musselwhite and Siegel, became acquainted with, and were ultimately mentored by such first-generation blues legends as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, the aforementioned Sam Lay and others. Goldberg played live with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (which included his friend Bloomfield) when they backed Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; by “going electric,” this performance launched the folk rock revolution, as depicted in the hit film A Complete Unknown.

Goldberg’s relationship with Dylan transcended that historic moment as they would later go on to jam with Doug Sahm and The Band in Woodstock, NY. When Goldberg was on the cusp of signing a contract with RCA to record a solo album in 1973, Dylan told him to hold off until he spoke to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic. Dylan biographer Robert Shelton chronicled Dylan’s side of the ensuing conversation: “I’m on the phone with Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records and I think we can work out a deal but I’m gonna have to produce you; that’s cool, isn’t it?” Barry’s response: “That’s really cool.” Barry Goldberg (1974) would become the only album Bob Dylan ever produced for another artist. When Wexler asked where the album should be made, Goldberg suggested Muscle Shoals, AL as that was where he had cut some of the fabled collaborations with Bloomfield that became the Two Jews Blues album in 1969 (which included Duane Allman). Some of the same players would also end up backing him on the Dylan/Wexler-produced project. Dylan, who had never been to Muscle Shoals, drove from California in his van with the ensuing sessions spanning five days and nights in August of 1973. Years later, Goldberg returned the favor when he produced Bob Dylan’s version of “People Get Ready” for Flashback , the feature film starring Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland for which he served as music supervisor.

As a session player, Goldberg contributed organ to Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ 1966 Top 5 hit “Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly” and later worked on albums by Leonard Cohen, Ramones and Flying Burrito Brothers, among many others. His bond with Bloomfield continued as they formed The Electric Flag with Buddy Miles and Harvey Brooks. This band recorded A Long Time Comin’, a groundbreaking album for Columbia in 1968, and well as the soundtrack to The Trip, starring Peter Fonda.  

Goldberg was the co-writer, with Gerry Goffin, of hits including “It’s Not The Spotlight” (Bobby Blue Bland, Rod Stewart) and “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination” (a #1 R&B record for Gladys Knight & The Pips; also recorded by Joe Cocker). Goldberg also co-produced with Saul Davis two award-winning Percy Sledge albums. He was co-writer with Gram Parsons of “Do You Know How It Feels,” recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers. More recently, he toured and recorded with The Rides, a musical partnership with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Stephen Stills. Their two albums, released in 2013 and 2016, both hit #1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart.

After a tumultuous high school experience Goldberg enlisted in the Marines, completing basic training at Parris Island, SC. In 1970, he met Gail Fliashnick at the Chelsea Hotel in New York after Michael Bloomfield set them up. Within two weeks, they were engaged and were wed on May 15, 1971. She is a designer and artist from New York, who studied in Rome and at Temple University in Philadelphia. Their son Aram is a Los Angeles-based management executive.   

In lieu of flowers, Barry’s family asks that donations in his name be made to The Bear League through savebears.org