“Hearing Conforth play one becomes immediately aware of his obvious proficiency with slide and delta finger picking styles: he’s a great exponent of those genres.”

- Scene Magazine, Cleveland, Ohio

“Bruce plays with such passion for Robert Johnson it was as if he was there in spirit! He must share more of his talent with the rest of the music world. His music is a tribute to my grandad that needs to be heard.” 

- Steven Johnson, grandson of Robert Johnson

“Bruce Conforth played a blistering tribute to Robert Johnson at the (2011) UMS Monday night event at Cobblestone Farm. From slide to fingerpicking Conforth obviously knows, loves, and can play the blues in a way that very few today can match. His show on Monday, accompanied by a very good harmonica player, did Johnson proud.”

- Ann Arbor News

“Dr. Conforth has been performing the blues as a singer/guitarist for over 50 years, having been an early proponent of traditional African American folk music in the folk/blues revival. He is a superlative blues and ragtime guitar picker and slider.”

- The Country Blues

"The amazing scholar/musician Bruce Conforth is  someone who has unlocked the mystery of Johnson’s sound. He gets Johnson’s sound better than anybody I’ve ever heard. Conforth seems to have reverse engineered the actual records, which he recreates to sound just like Johnson, which is impressive enough, as I’d never heard anyone do that with any genuine fidelity before."

-   Travelanche - May 2019

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

2017- Performed with Steven Johnson (grandson of Robert Johnson) as part of the Netflix documentary Devil at the Crossroads

2016 – Performed with Phil Wiggins, Eleanor Ellis, Andy Cohen – Old Songs Folk Festival, New York

2015 – Performed with blues guitarist Jimmy “Duck” Holmes – Blue Front Café, Bentonia, Mississippi

2014 – Performed solo tour in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland and Sunderland and London, England

2013 – Performed with blues guitarist John Hammond Ann Arbor, Michigan

2012 – Performed with blues guitarist Corey Harris – Blissfest Music Festival, Michigan

2011 – Performed with blues guitarist Carolyn Wonderland – Blissfest Music Festival, Michigan

1994 – Performed with blues guitarist Son Seals – Wilbert’s, Cleveland, Ohio

1994 – Performed as part of Robert Lockwood’s band Cleveland, Ohio (Robert Lockwood is the only person known to have been taught guitar by Robert Johnson)

1991 & 1992 – Performed with B.B. King – New York City and Cleveland, Ohio

1980 – Performed with Honeyboy Edwards – Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

1979 – Performed solo The Minstrel Folk Music Coffee House – Morristown, New Jersey

1978 – Performed with Kenny Kosek and Roy Book Binder – Middletown Folk Festival, New Jersey

1978 – Performed as Bates and Hawkins – ragtime guitar duet – The Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways, Tramps NYC

1975, 76 – Performed with Dave Van Ronk – The Bitter End, New York City

1972 – Performed with Muddy Waters – Dodds Inn, Montclair, New Jersey

1970 – Performed with blues guitarist Johnny Shines – Alabama

1969-70 – Private guitar lessons from Reverend Gary Davis – Queens, New York