Like the music he plays, Elvin Bishop has no problem being honest with and about himself. All his strengths, he suggests, basically flow out of weaknesses. "I have to be a good songwriter because I don't have a great voice," he explains. "I can't sing any old thing. A story has to hold together really well and capture people's imaginations. And my slide [guitar] playing also comes from not having a good voice, from not being blessed with vocal qualities at birth."

      There undoubtedly are more than a few musicians out there who wish they were blessed with such "weaknesses."

      Bishop, 63, has done more than all right for himself in his chosen profession. He was a founding member of the pioneering Paul Butterfield blues band, scored a commercial hit on his own (the single "Fooled Around and Fell In Love, with vocals by Mickey Thomas, who later was a member of Jefferson Starship), and in general has carved out a respected career carrying on an American art form: the blues.

      Bishop recalls that he was hooked the moment he found out that blues "was where the good part of rock and roll was coming from." A National Merit Scholar, he chose the University of Chicago, located in a city where his real education came outside of the classroom.

      He says he was "completely surrounded by the blues." Bishop estimates there must have been 200 blues clubs there in 1960, and on any night of the week a person could hear Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Hound Dog Taylor, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Bobby King, Eddie King, Little Smokey, Big Smokey "and a whole ton of people you never heard of."

      Bluesman Otis Rush became a good friend and mentor. "Every step of the way has been a surprise to me. There's been nothing planned about it," he says. "I've been so lucky. I ended up getting to play with most of my heroes, including John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimi Hendrix, Dwayne Allman and guys like that."

      The Butterfield band's impact also was "a case of right place, right time," he adds. "There was this great body of music, the blues, and a huge white audience. The people and the music were overdue to meet and the Butterfield band was lucky to be there for an audience that was fairly enlightened. The band was the vehicle to deliver it to them. A sad but true fact is that the public was, and probably still is, more willing to accept something from a young or old white face than an old black face."

      When he came to Chicago in 1960, blues was like rap is now for blacks, he says. "Blues was what was happening for black people, the number one choice. Everybody liked the blues among black people. Now the blues people are probably 90 percent white. Styles just change. It's normal. Soul came along and kicked the blues out."

      When the blues touches someone, it has a strong resonance, Bishop says. "For most people, music in general has a place in life that clothing and hairstyles and this year's new cars and ephemeral surface stuff has," he says. "Music is just part of the daily lifestyle. I don't think most people feel a deep connection to it. It's just something to dance to and pass the time. Blues people insist on it having something to do with their life and it's a destination in itself."

      Albert Collins once told him that every 10 years a new generation discovers the blues. It is not a technically demanding musical form, Bishop says. "The average 17-year-old musician has enough chops to play the blues. They just don't know where to put the notes because they don't have that life experience," he adds.

      Bishop felt reenergized about the blues and music in general a few years ago when he decided to throw away his guitar pick. "I was not approaching burnout, but I was able to see it coming down the road when I was playing with the pick," he explains. "I decided to try my thumb again."

      That road made all the difference. "It seemed like I was eliminating one or two steps and it went straight to what I was feeling. It was a little sloppier, but there was a lot more feeling and originality." Every tune he has done since then is without a guitar pick. "It opened up a whole new world," he explains.

      He is proudest of his songwriting, his ability to take a situation and capture its essence. He feels the material on his latest album, Getting My Groove Back, represents some of his best work. "I'm kind of proud to be able to take some real rough situations and nail them pretty exactly," he says.

      Since he began using a wireless microphone and walking into the crowd, and taking more time to meet people after shows, he says he has a better understanding of who comes to his shows and listen to his CDs. "It is such an amazing variety of people. It reinforced my idea that it wouldn't make sense to try to aim it at anybody special. I do what I want and hope someone likes it," he says.

      He believes his role is to entertain people and show them a good time. "I make sure when they come to my show they go away feeling happy," he says. "In one way or another, I won't leave it alone until I see that happen."