Mike Bloomfield was an American blues guitarist and composer. Born in Chicago in July 1943, he became one of the first popular music artists of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost solely as an instrumentalist, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respected for his guitar playing, he joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in early 1965, which included Elvin Bishop and keyboardist Mark Naftalin, along with drummer Sam Lay and bassist Jerome Arnold, who had previously worked in Howlin' Wolf's band. Later that year, he played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, including the single "Like a Rolling Stone", and performed with Dylan at that year's Newport Folk Festival. In 1967, he formed the short-lived Electric Flag with two longtime Chicago collaborators, Barry Goldberg and vocalist Nick Gravenites. After that, Bloomfield pursued a solo career but struggled with drug addiction.