Elvin Bishop

On June 8, 1969, while the Dead sat backstage waiting to go on at the Fillmore, someone passed them a bottle. As Phil details in his autobiography, it turned out to be filled with apple juice that was so dosed they could taste the acid as it went down. Afterwards, the boys gamely went on stage, but even they could not make it through unscathed. Fortunately, a host of other musicians were on hand to fill in the gaps as both Jerry and Bobby left the stage for a time. And this is how we get Elvin Bishop as a guest with the Grateful Dead. 

On that night, Jerry sounds just fine as he introduces Me and My Uncle, the last tune of the first set. But neither Jerry nor Bobby make it out of the break. And Pigpen, who does not play on the opening Lovelight either, introduces Wayne Ceballos, who takes the vocals. And we also get, as Lost Live Dead suggests, Santana’s rhythm section and, by numerous accounts, Bishop.

There is no doubt about Bishop’s presence on the next two tunes, though. The first of those is The Things I Used to Do, Guitar Slim’s blues standard. And it is bluesy as all get out with some fun vocal back and forth between Bishop and Pig. Afterwards, Bishop and Pig discuss song possibilities for some time before Bishop starts off singing Freddie King’s That’s All Right. But when Pig comes in for the second verse, he instead sings lyrics from It Hurts Me Too. Regardless, the song is a ton of fun with intense guitar work by Bishop over Phil and the drummers keen beat.

Bishop also played two other shows the year before, during that short few weeks when Pigpen and Bobby had been kicked out of the band. Both shows were at the Matrix and billed as Mickey and the Hartbeats. On these, from October 8 and October 30, 1968, there are some incredible bluesy jams with Bishop’s guitar serving as a foil for Jerry’s searing runs as Phil’s bass runs through it all.

Elvin Bishop first came on the music scene when he joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1963 while studying at the University of Chicago. Bishop stayed with the band for five years before launching out on his own. As a solo artist, he had his greatest success in the mid-70s with Travelin’ Shoes and Fooled Around and Fell in Love, the latter of which peaked at #3 on the Billboard chart. But Bishop has continued to make music, including garnering recent Grammy nominations for his 2017 album, Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, and 2021 effort with Charlie Musselwhite, 100 Years of Blues.