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Guitar player – Singer/Songwriter Paul Butler (born 1st July, 1946, Ranikhet, India ) is a British musician.

Career
Butler’s recording career began in 1964, playing harmonica, when together with his first band, The Turnkeys, he provided the “beat group music” for a Jim O’Connolly film, “The little ones”, released generally in the UK in 1965.

However, his reputation as a blues guitar specialist was cemented with his meeting with pianist, Pete Wingfield, at university in 1967 and the formation of the Blue Horizon band, Jellybread. The band went on to produce 3 albums and 6 singles for producer, Mike Vernon, on the label. This association also led to Butler playing with B B King on the 1971 “ In London” album release by RCA, and the later BBC “Sounding out” television documentary on the Blues artist. Butler went on to play on 3 more Mike Vernon productions: the producer’s two solo albums, “Bring it on home” (1971) and “Moment of madness” (1973), and the Lightning Slim release on Blue Horizon, “London Gumbo” (1972). In 2008, Sony-BMG released the compendium album, “Jellybread –The complete Blue Horizon sessions”, featuring an extensive sleeve note/discography written by Mike Vernon, which provides further early biographical detail on Paul Butler.

In 1973, Paul Butler joined the Transatlantic Records band, Punchin’ Judy .Although tracks recorded with the band were not released, Butler did record one album with Transatlantic Records, playing guitar on the Dave Cartwright 1974 album release, “Don’t let your family down”. That year saw Butler’s move to the Keef Hartley Band. He played with Hartley through several line-ups, and it was with the drummer that he first played with Stan Webb, at the unlikely venue of Banbury Football Club. At the same time he reconnected with former Ten Years After drummer, Ric Lee, whom he had sessioned with for Mike Vernon in 1973. Although the pair were to record some of Butler’s tracks for Lee’s Fast Western label, their next meaningful liaison came in 1979 when both joined Stan Webb, and bassist, Andy Pyle, in yet another incarnation of Stan Webb’s band, Chicken Shack. That outfit produced one album, “Roadies’ concerto”, for RCA in 1981, but with Alan Scott on bass, and Tony Ashton on keyboards. In 1982, Paul Butler retired from the music business.

It wasn’t until 2010 that Butler re-emerged from retirement, this time as a solo performer, with a self-released downloadable EP, “21 C Blue –the EP”. His music found some favour with Internet and local radio stations, and one of his tracks, “Can’t help myself”, even topped listener polls on an Internet station on 3 occasions in 2010. In 2013, Butler’s first solo album, “Days will come”, was released on the Pajem label to considerable critical acclaim , but enjoyed limited commercial success. It featured old associates, like Pete Wingfield, and up and coming musicians, like the brass section from Ska hipsters, Yes Sir Boss. A second solo album, “Cities made of gold”, was released at the beginning of 2015, featuring some of the same musicians, but also including Bluegrass fiddle-player, Tammy Rogers.