Barry Goldberg, the acclaimed musician and producer who famously played with Bob Dylan at Newport ’65, has died. He was aged 83.
The news of his passing was shared by a representative, Bob Merlis, who revealed that the keyboardist died in hospice care. He had had a 10-year-long battle with non-Hoghkin lymphoma, and his wife of 53 years, Gail, and son Aram were by his side at the time of death.
Born in Chicago in 1942, Goldberg began his career in music as a teenager and aligned himself with the other great blues and rock n’ roll groundbreakers at the time like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.
One of the standout moments of his extensive career came in 1965 when he – performing as part of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – took to the stage at the Newport Folk Festival for one of Bob Dylan’s most iconic performances.
The historic set was Dylan’s first time playing an eclectic guitar alongside a live band and famously sparked a huge wave of backlash. Although controversial at the time, the set went on to become one of the biggest moments in the songwriter’s career.
Recalling the set back in 2022, Goldberg told The Forward: “I walked offstage that night feeling like a hero, and I didn’t want anything to break that spell.”
Other bands that the musician performed in included the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band, which he formed with Steve Miller, as well as The Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield and The Barry Goldberg Reunion. These were formed by the keyboardist in 1965, 1967 and 1968 respectively.
His connections to Bob Dylan extended beyond the iconic Newport ‘65 show too, as the singer, songwriter and guitarist also produced Barry Goldberg’s self-titled 1974 album – marking the only time he ever produced an LP for another artist.
Over a decade later, Goldberg retired the favour and acted as producer for Bob Dylan’s recording of ‘People Get Ready’. The song was shared as part of the soundtrack to the Flashback film.
As highlighted by Far Out, his reach in the music industry extended further too as numerous songs of his were later recorded by huge names like Joe Cocker, Gladys Knight, Rod Stewart and Steve Miller.
‘Barry Goldberg’ 1974 album artwork. CREDIT: Blank Archives/Getty Images
By the mid-’90s, his producing credits included the Percy Sledge album ‘Blue Night’. Produced alongside Saul Davis, it included contributions from music legends like Bobby Womack, and songs written by Bee Gees, Fats Domino, Otis Redding and more.
His musical contributions continued into the 21st century, and by 2012 he performed alongside Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Chris Layton as part of The Rides. The group was founded by Stephen Stills.
Four songs on their debut album were co-written by Goldberg, and their second album ‘Pierced Arrow’ was shared in 2016.
A Complete Unknown was given a four-star review by NME, with Alex Flood writing: “The most important (and often trickiest) job of any music movie is to get the music right. And this nails that. If you’re a Bob newbie, you’ll leave the cinema ready to dive into his back catalogue.
“If you’re already a fan, the next few weeks will be spent making playlists of lesser-known B-sides or reading the lore around a scene you weren’t familiar with. And that’s why it was a good idea to make this film – a mad idea, but a good one.”
Chalamet recently spoke to NME about his preparation for the role and recalled the extensive amount of time he put into getting the character right. “I had the time to put the 10,000 hours in,” he said. “There wasn’t a deadline on it. I wasn’t learning for anyone else. I was learning for myself.”
“Someone said the other day that [Dylan] was ‘someone who doesn’t give a fuck about other people’,” he added of the iconic singer-songwriter. “I don’t think it’s that. He was concerned about his art, and never pretended not to be.”
