Barry Goldberg

Barry Goldberg emerged from the fertile Chicago blues scene, a keyboard prodigy who soaked up the sounds of the city's South Side clubs. His career took a pivotal turn when a young Bob Dylan heard him play and recruited him for his first electric band, a move that placed Goldberg at the epicenter of the folk-rock explosion. He co-founded the ambitious blues-rock ensemble the Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield, a group that fused R&B, soul, and psychedelia. While the Flag was short-lived, Goldberg settled into a long career as a versatile session musician and producer, lending his Hammond B-3 organ swells and piano chops to records by everyone from the rambunctious Steve Miller to the soulful Percy Sledge. He remained a steadfast keeper of the blues flame, collaborating with giants like Charlie Musselwhite and forming the Rides with Stephen Stills in his later years.