2026 Upcoming Shows!

MAY

May 1: Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, UT - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

May 2: Lone Tree Arts Center, Lone Tree, CO - Elvin Bishop + Charlie Musselwhite Duo

May 3: The Suffolk, Riverhead, NY - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

May 9: Estrella Lakeside Amphitheater, Goodyear, AZ - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

May 16: Biscuits and Blues, San Francisco, CA - Kim Wilson

May 17: Biscuits and Blues, San Francisco, CA - Kim Wilson

JUNE

June 5: Chicago Blues Festival, Chicago, IL - Elvin Bishop + Charlie Musselwhite Duo

June 14: Studio @Mainstreet, Parker, CO - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

JULY

July 1: Cape West 

July 4: Lions Park Mt. Brydges, Mount Bridges, ON - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 8 Triple Door, Seattle, WA - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 9: Monteith Riverpark, Albany, OR - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 17: Robins Theatre, Warren, OH - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 18: Murphy Theatre, Wilmington, OH - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 19: Ludlow Garage, Cincinnati, OH - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 25: Preservation Plaza, Arnolds Park, IA - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

July 31: Hazel Ruby McQuain Ampitheater, Morgantown, WV - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 1: Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, MD - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 6: Victoria Park, Kitchener, ON - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 9: Belly Up, Solana Beach, CA - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 13: The Bend Theater, West Bend, WI - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

August 15: Bayfront Festival Park, Duluth, MN - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Aki Kumar + Bob Welsh blues piano tribute

 

2025 Grammy Nominations

The Fabulous Thunderbirds are proud to announce that Struck Down is nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album and the song "Nothing In Rambling," featuring Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo', Taj Mahal, & Mick Fleetwood, is nominated for Best American Roots Performance!

Stay tuned for the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards show on February 2, 2025!

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

L to R: Steve Kirsty (bass), Johnny Moeller (guitar), Kim Wilson (lead vocals, harmonica), Bob Welsh  (piano / guitar), Rudy Albin (drums)

Blues Blast Magazine Featured Interview

 

Cover photo © 2023 Bob Hakins

It was a privilege talking to Mark Thompson, who interviewed me for this issue of Blues Blast Magazine.  I hope you enjoy it!

"I am lucky to be playing with Elvin, and with Kim Wilson, who is a force of nature on stage.  I am playing on all cylinders with him.  He shoots from the hip.  There is no set list.  He just calls out a tune, maybe a slow blues in the key of G, and he starts playing.  So we are doing a slow blues, and you don't have time to think about sounding like B.B. King or Robert Lockwood Jr.  You just have to play and make it work right off the cuff.  Half way through, you realize you are doing a B.B. King tune, but playing it like Buddy Guy.  It is too late to go back, so you have to finish it out.  You just have to play, and consequently you sound like yourself."

2022 Grammy nominations

I am honored to have played on two of this year's Grammy nominated albums.    

Best Traditional Blues Album

• 100 Years Of Blues — Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite 
• Traveler's Blues — Blues Traveler
• I Be Trying — Cedric Burnside 
• Be Ready When I Call You — Guy Davis
• Take Me Back — Kim Wilson

2021 Blues Music Award winners

I'm proud to have played on 100 Years of Blues with Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite.  

At the 2021 Blues Music Awards the album won in both the Traditional Blues Album category and Album of the Year!

From American Blues Scene:

This entire 12-track release is just two good-old-blues-boys sitting together and jamming. It’s absolutely brilliant. Most of the songs on 100 Years of Blues were written by either Bishop or Musselwhite, and they teamed up to write the title track. Along the way they also pay homage to Roosevelt Sykes with “West Helena Blues,” an appropriate song given the amount of times each artist has played at the King Biscuit Blues Festival. The duo also cover Leroy Carr’s “Midnight Hour Blues,” and Willie Dixon’s “Help Me.”

The album was produced, recorded, mixed, mastered, chopped, scattered, and smothered by Christoffer “Kid” Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, and at Bishop’s Hog Heaven Studio in Lagunitas. Kid also plays upright bass on four tracks. The only other artist on the record is none other than Bob Welsh who is part of Bishop’s Big Fun Trio as well as playing and recording with a truckload of blues luminaries. Welsh provides guitar on seven songs and piano on the other five.

New Single "Universal Rock"

Hey friends!

Hope everyone is keeping well out there! Can’t wait to see everyone at live gigs in the future but until then, please check out my first single, my version of Earl Hooker's “Universal Rock” which is the A side of my upcoming 45!

Hope you’ll enjoy this special tune featuring myself on guitar & keys, Kid Andersen on bass, Rusty Zinn on guitar, Big Jon Atkinson on harmonica, Eric Spaulding on sax & Marty Dodson on drums, recorded at Greaseland! 

Please stay tuned... in a couple of weeks I will release the B side on my Facebook page.

Tips are encouraged, but not a necessity.  PayPal: BLWELSH30@HOTMAIL.COM / Venmo: Robert-Welsh-42

New Song & Video: Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio Plus! Lockdown!

Message from Elvin Bishop:
Well, we’re all kind of stuck at home in “lockdown” because of the pandemic and this crazy virus. Usually I bounce ideas off my band to see what they think. So I had an idea for a groove…with social distancing and all, I passed it along to my pal Bob Welsh…in the lo-tech way I operate 😀.
Next thing I knew Kid was in the loop and it just kept rolling on from there! Come on and join us for our “Lockdown” jam. Thanks of course to my band mates, Bob Welsh and Willy Jordan, and to Kid Andersen and D’Mar for joining in on the big fun!

White Mountain Boogie N' Blues Festival

2019 Grammy Awards

Right Now is the Hour - Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio

Can't Stand the Rain - Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio

With Bonnie Raitt at Sweetwater Music Hall

The Elvin Bishop Band at A Prairie Home Companion

Recording with Fillmore Slim at Greaseland Studios

At Jazz Fest, New Orleans

Bob's Boogie Number One in the World on the Blues Song Charts!

Listen to Bob's Boogie, written and performed by Bob Welsh - anywhere you listen to your music.  It's track #6 on the album Something Smells Funky 'Round Here by Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio. 

Winner for Best Band at the 2015 Blues Music Awards!

The Elvin Bishop Band took home the winning trophy for Best Band as well as the winning trophy for Best Album, Can't Even Do Wrong Right.  What an honor!

Photos by Marilyn Stringer

Reggae With Rusty Zinn

photo credit: Britt Halquist
l to r: Etienne Franc, Rusty Zinn, Bob Welsh

I'm enjoying playing the guitar with Rusty Zinn now and again. The music sounds sweet and we always have a good time. Lee Hildebrand did a nice write-up of a recent show for the East Bay Express.

Recording Session with Finis Tasby at Greaseland Studios

It's always great recording at Greaseland Studios. Working with Finis Tasby was definitely a highlight of the month. Thanks to Rachel Kumar for capturing the session.

Rusty Zinn and Hux Brown

Bluestock, New York

Thanks to Marilyn Stringer and Mark Pratt for the great photos.

Notodden Blues Festival, Norway

© 2011 Jan Erik Arud
L to R: Bob Welsh, Elvin Bishop & Bobby Cochran

© 2011 Jan Erik Arud
L to R: Bob Welsh, Elvin Bishop, Ed Earley & Kid Andersen

The folks in Norway know how to have a great time! Thanks to Jan Erik for capturing these photos. More from the festival can be seen on Jan's Flickr page.

Playing Guitar with Rusty Zinn on September 4

It's always great to share the stage with Rusty Zinn & Hux Brown playing a fun mix of reggae, rock steady and ska tunes. Bay Area friends, come on down to the show at the Starry Plough in Berkeley on September 4. You can also catch us on September 11 at the Poorhouse Bistro in San Jose.

Reggae With Rusty Zinn

Mexican Riviera, Here We Come!

photo by Marilyn Stringer

Elvin Bishop Gig at Biscuits and Blues

l to r: Ed Early, Bobby Welsh, Bobby Cochran, Elvin Bishop

l to r: Bobby Welsh, Kid Andersen, Ed Early

l to r: Bobby Welsh & John Németh

All photos by the talented Bob Hakins

Red Dog Speaks

Cover of Red Dog Speaks

'Red Dog Speaks' follows 2008's 'The Blues Rolls On', which earned him a Grammy nomination and four 2009 Blues Music Award nominations. 'Red Dog Speaks' features five new Bishop originals plus songs by Jimmy Cliff, Otis Spann, Leroy Carr, and others.

The title track tells the story of his '59 Gibson Stereo ES 345 guitar, nicknamed "Red Dog." The album proves full of hooks and humor as well, such as on Bishop's "Fat And Sassy." Buckwheat Zydeco lends his accordion to "Blues Cruise" which also features excellent guitar work by Tommy Castro and Ronnie Baker Brooks; the track was recorded live on the high seas. The traditional gospel tune "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" gets the Bishop slide treatment. He plays solo on "Clean Livin', " a reflection on his younger lifestyle and a highlight of the album.

Bishop is a slide guitar great with 45-years of blues under his belt. Rolling Stone has praised his "careening slide and razor-edged bursts, all delivered with unflagging enthusiasm and wit." He is a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and recorded three groundbreaking albums with the group. After launching a solo career, Bishop's 1976 single "Fooled Around and Fell In Love, " still in heavy rotation on classic rock radio, reached number three on Billboard's Pop Singles chart, pushing the album 'Struttin' My Stuff' to number 18 on the Pop Albums chart. He has performed on recordings by John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, and The Allman Brothers Band, among many others. On stage, he's wielded his guitar to accompany the likes of John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Big Joe Williams, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Albert Collins, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes and many others. Blues Revue has called Bishop "head and shoulders - and slide guitar - above the rest."

* Liner Notes and song listings here.

* Purchase on Amazon here.

Elvin Bishop (Guitar, Vocals, Slide Guitar), Ronnie Baker Brooks (Guitar), Buckwheat Zydeco (Accordion), Kid Anderson (Guitar). Roy Gaines (Guitar, Vocals), Terry Hanck (Tenor Sax), John Nemeth (Harmonica, Vocals), Mike Schermer (Rhythm Guitar), Snakebite (Tenor Sax), Tommy Castro (Guitar), Bobby Cochran (Drums), June Core (Drums), Ruth Davies (Bass), Tom Poole (Trumpet), Bob Welsh (Guitar, Piano, Keyboards), R.C. Carrier (Rubboard), Sir Reginald Dural (Rubboard), Ed Earley (Trombone, Tambourine, Vocals).

Father's Day gig at Rancho Nicasio

photo by Bob Hakins

Gig with Elvin Bishop at Harrah's Lake Tahoe

Rock My Soul



Band Solos

New Orleans Jazz Fest 2010

photo by Scott Schexnaydre


Bob Welsh & Elvin Bishop


Check out the news coverage here.

New Video filmed at EC's Jook Joint

Performing My Troubled Mind with John Nemeth. Filmed at EC's Jook Joint in Palo Alto, CA.

Photos from our gig at the Half Moon Bay Brewery

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Thanks to Angi Schyvinck for taking the photos!

Photos from our gig in Pasadena

Always a good time playing at the Langham Hotel, Pasadena
L to R: Bob Welsh, Chef Dennis, John Németh

photos by A. Gardner

Latest Tour Videos

Hey everyone, we are in the middle of a 3 week tour, on our way to New York right now - keep checking this site for updated tour dates and hope to see you at one of the shows!

Here's some good coverage from our show at the Thunder Bay Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to those who came out to see us already this year.

In the meantime, catch us here on HD video. Two new ones were added just recently. All videos were filmed at The Knitting Factory in John's hometown of Boise, Idaho.