Watermelon Slim
(Northern Blues)
Watermelon Slim took the blues world by storm in recent years, being nominated for 17 Blues Music Awards in just four year. Not bad for a fellow who broke into the music business way back in 1973 with a fiercely anti-war album based on his time as a soldier in Vietnam and then spent a lifetime working in various blue collar jobs, especially as a truck driver. Escape from the Chicken Coop has been called Slim's country album. And it is indeed filled with songs about truck drivers and a life spent driving the "low boys" and "high beds." But this album will not disappoint Slim's blues fans. Rather it shows another dimension of this artist's amazing talent.
Slim took a break from his band-the Workers-and went to Nashville to record this CD. He ended up recording 21 songs in just four days. Several songs were co-written with Gary Nicholson, who writes for Delbert McClinton, and Delbert even came in to observe a few of the sessions. And there is no doubt this is a country album, complete with fiddles and steel guitar, the latter being supplied by Paul Franklin. But it is also unmistakably a Watermelon Slim album with his intense, world weary voice that sounds like it has covered a lifetime of hard miles. Slim is an incredible slide guitar player. The album kicks off with "Caterpillar Whine," a rollicking song about going down open highway that could have been done by the Allman Brothers in their Dickey Betts period.
Before country music became the flag waving music loved by people like George W. Bush and mega corporations trying to sell stuff, it was outlaw music. Country music was white peoples' blues. And Watermelon Slim has taken country back to its roots here. Hank Williams was a bluesman, having written one of the greatest blues songs of all time: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." Jimmy Rodgers influenced seminal blues greats like Tommy Johnson and Howlin' Wolf. Slim acknowledges the debt with an excellent tribute to "Lonesome" called Hank Williams You Wrote My Life. Slim sings, "You Wrote ‘Your Cheatin' Heart' about a girl who looked like my first ex-wife...I heard that blue whippoorwill sing and that lonesome whistle whine. I know the feeling so cold, so real, when the blues come down at midnight."
The album also features a cover and reworking of Roy Acuff's classic, "Wreck on the Highway." But the true gem here is a song Slim penned called "Should Have Done More." This song features Slim's soaring electric slide work and a plea for helping those down on their luck. Slim merges the world of country and blues with one simple lyric: "In the unforgiving flow of life, he was swept away."
Watermelon Slim is not just trying to cash in on country with Escape from the Chicken Coop. This is a man who has lived the blue collar world of constant economic uncertainty that creates the blues today for millions of Americans, both black and white. These 13 songs would sound perfect playing in any truck stop or juke joint from Baton Rouge to Boise. Watermelon Slim is the real deal as a bluesman. He has created an authentic country album with blues sensibilities. Hank Williams would understand it perfectly.
Standout Tracks: "Should Have Done More" "Caterpillar Whine" "Hank Williams You Wrote My Life" TOM CALLAHAN
