Bishop went solo in the ’70s, and spent the next two decades touring and flirting with a more commercial sound before returning to full-fledged blues by the ’90s. His most recent studio release, 2005’s Gettin’ My Groove Back, ended a seven-year recording hiatus, and his current CD, Booty Bumpin’ [Blind Pig], is an incendiary live set captured at Constable Jack’s in Newcastle, California.

What was your live rig on Booty Bumpin’?
I went straight into a Fender amp, but I don’t remember the exact model. I tend to adapt to my gear much more than I try to make my gear adapt to me, so the closer the outboard setup gets to three knobs, the happier I am. The guitar I used was my ’59 Gibson ES-345 with the stereo outputs wired together, which I’ve been playing for 47 years now. My strings are gauged .010, .013, .017, .032, .042, and .052, so they are thicker on the bottom than a regular light-gauge set.

What, if any, open tunings do you use for playing slide? 
I seldom use open tunings anymore. I’ve been taking after Earl Hooker, who was possibly the greatest guitar player I ever saw. He played everything in standard tuning, and instead of using the slide to play big, fat chords, he’d use it to emulate vocal lines. I’m not the best singer, so playing slide gives me the expressive voice I’ve never had, without the limitations of range, vibrato, or quality. Live, we’re doing an instrumental version of “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” on which I play the vocal melody entirely on slide.

There was a big gap between your last two studio recordings. Did you incorporate any other new elements into your playing over that time period?
A few years back, I’d gotten sick and tired of playing all my old licks, and I found that if I just put my pick down and played with my fingers, it threw me back into the gene pool. In other words, it got me to the same headspace as when I first started playing, where I wasn’t concerned with what was right and what was wrong—I was just trying to sound good. The thumb has its own intuitive agenda that is driven more from the heart—the syncopated bass/chord thumping on “What the Hell Is Going On” [from Gettin’ My Groove Back] came from that—whereas the pick seems to warrant this more official scalar approach.

Speaking of the early days, when you joined Paul Butterfield’s band, what records were you listening to most for inspiration?
I started out with Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker, because my ear couldn’t handle more than one guy with a guitar at a time. I had no musical background at all, and I didn’t even know anyone who played an instrument when I was growing up. I just knew I was crazy for blues. Later, I discovered Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter. I remember hearing B. B. King for the first time and thinking it sounded like jazz!

Did moving to San Francisco and being exposed to that scene influence your playing in any way?
No—not too much. After being in Chicago, the standards of musicianship seemed kind of low in San Francisco. It was just a different thing happening, and I was still a blues guy at heart.

You’ve played with a literal Who’s Who of legendary rock and blues guitarists. Do any moments or players stand out in your mind as being especially influential?
I was lucky enough to be around some great musicians early in my career, and the one thing I took from those experiences more than anything else was the high standard of excellence they set as an example. I learned not to settle for sounding “good enough,” and to keep practicing until it sounded great. And when it came time to play in front of an audience, I learned not to take “no” for an answer—to make every effort to get over with the people. Those are the standards I still shoot for.