Yahoo Lifestyle Keyboardist Who Played With Bob Dylan the Night He Went Electric Dies at 83
Barry Goldberg, the blues and rock keyboardist who was part of one of music’s most memorable moments in the mid-1960s, has died. He was 83.
Goldberg died on Wednesday, Jan. 22, after a 10-year battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to Variety. Bob Merlis, a representative for Goldberg, told the magazine that the musician was in hospice care at the time of his death and that his wife, Gail, and son, Aram, were with him in his final moments.
Born on Dec. 25, 1942, in Chicago, Goldberg developed an early interest in the blues. He embraced opportunities in his teenage years to sit in with some of the genre’s biggest names—including Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf—when they played his hometown.
In 1965, Goldberg was onstage with Bob Dylan when the singer went electric at the Newport Folk Festival, a controversial performance that went down in history as one of the genre’s most transformative moments. Goldberg and Dylan later collaborated in the studio, with Dylan producing Goldberg’s self-titled album in 1974 and Goldberg producing a song for Dylan more than one decade later.
In addition to his work with Dylan, Goldberg co-founded The Electric Flag, a rock, blues and soul group that formed in the mid-1960s. He recorded as part of the blues supergroup The Rides in more recent years with Stephen Stills and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and was featured in the 2013 blues history documentary Born in Chicago.
Shepherd paid tribute to Goldberg by sharing a photo of The Rides on Instagram.
“Today we lost a dear friend and an incredibly gifted musician,” the caption for Shepherd’s post said. He remembered Goldberg as “a musical powerhouse and a sweetheart of a person.”
“If you knew him and his wife Gail you’d never forget them,” Shepherd’s tribute continued. “Both full of love and adoration for one another and attached at the hip. If you didn’t know Barry do yourself a favor and learn about him as he was part of many of the musical moments that defined Rock & Roll. We will all miss him dearly but I’m forever grateful for the time we had together. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻.”
Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band also remembered Goldberg as he shared a throwback image from the time they performed together as the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band.
“Barry Goldberg was a great pianist, a brilliant songwriter and a lifetime friend,” Miller’s post on X, formerly Twitter, said. "We played together in Chicago in 1965 as the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and he was an important part of the blues revival in Chicago in the mid '60s. R.I.P Barry, yours was a great musical journey.”
Barry Goldberg was a great pianist, a brilliant songwriter and a lifetime friend. We played together in Chicago in 1965 as the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and he was an important part of the blues revival in Chicago in the mid '60s. R.I.P Barry, yours was a great musical journey. pic.twitter.com/J0pq30h5uL
— Steve Miller Band (@SMBofficial) January 23, 2025
