Chuck Berry at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival

his heart’s beating rhythm & his soul keeps a-singing the blues.

Chuck Berry performing at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival. Photographer probably Barry Olivier. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.

A few of the wonderful performance and portrait shots of Chuck Berry at the Berkeley Blues Festival, 27 February 1965, from the Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection. These were likely taken by Berkeley Folk Music Festival director and amateur photographer Barry Olivier.

Chuck Berry performing at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival. Photographer probably Barry Olivier. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.
Chuck Berry at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival. Photographer probably Barry Olivier. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.
Chuck Berry at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival. Photographer probably Barry Olivier. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.
Blues Festival ’65 Handbill. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.
1965 Berkeley Blues Festival program. Berkeley Folk Music Festival Collection, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries.

Full program

Hear Chris Strachwitz discuss Berry’s West Coast visit in 1965

Chris Strachwitz—Arhoolie Records proprietor, vernacular music collector, anti-Mickey Mouse music proponent, and 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival co-producer—on Berry at the 1965 Berkeley Blues Festival and his visit out on the West Coast that year.

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