Louisiana Slim

Louisiana Slim's

     Guitar Slim

Slim Harpo (James Moore)

Slim Harpo is a Louisiana icon. He was born in Lobdell, Louisiana January 11, 1924 and died January 31, 1970 in Rouge. He was a blues musician. He began performing as Harmonica Slim in bars around Baton Rouge Later he accompanied Lightnin’ Slim,(his brother-in-law) in the studio and live. He started his own recording career in 1957. His producer, Jay Miller, named him Slim Harpo His solo debut was “I’m a King Bee”. Reverse side was “I Got Love if You Want It” He began recording for Excello Records Among them were "Rainin' In My Heart" (1961), "I Love The Life I Live", "Buzzin'" (instrumental) and "Little Queen Bee" (1964). On these hits he was accompanied by understated electric backing from the regular stable of Excello musicians — including

Harpo's relaxed, almost lazy, performances set the tone for his subsequent work. His warm, languid voice enhanced the sexual metaphor of "I'm A King Bee”. He enjoyed a notable US Top 20 pop hit in 1966 with "Baby Scratch My Back" (also a number 1 R&B hit enhanced by James Johnson’s Chicken Scratch guitar licks)), which revitalized his career. Never a full-time musician, Harpo had his own trucking business during the 1960s, although he was a popular figure in the late 1960s blues revival, with appearances at several renowned venues including the Electric Circus and the Fillmore East. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on 31 January 1970 at the age of 46, and was buried in Mulatto Bend Cemetery in Port Allen, Louisiana.

"Lightnin' Slim"
Otis Hicks was born in St. Louis, Missouri March 13, 1913 and died of stomach cancer in Detroit, Michigan July 27, 1974, He is best known by the stage name Lightnin' Slim. He was a blues artist, specializing in Louisiana and swamp blues.
     The acknowledged kingpin of the Louisiana school of blues, Lightnin' Slim's style was built on his grainy but expressive vocals and rudimentary guitar work, with usually nothing more than a harmonica and a drummer in support. It was down-home country blues edged two steps further into the mainstream; first by virtue of Lightnin's electric guitar, and secondly by the sound of the local Crowley musicians who backed him being bathed in simmering, pulsating tape echo. As the first great star of producer J.D. Miller's blues talent stable, the formula was a successful one, scoring him regional hits that were issued on the Nashville-based Excello label for over a decade, with one of them, "Rooster Blues," making the national R&B charts in 1959.
     Lightnin' moved from Missouri to Louisiana at the age of thirteen. Taught guitar by his older brother Layfield. Lightnin' was playing bars in Baton Rouge by the late 1940s. He recorded for Excello Records for 12 years, starting in the mid 1950s. Slim often collaborated with his brother in law, Slim Harpo.
     In the 1970s Lightnin' performed on tours in Europe, both in England, Baton Rouge and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He was mostly accompanied by Moses “Whispering” Smith on harmonica. Lazy, rolling and insistent, Lightnin' Slim is Louisiana blues at its finest.

Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones
Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi December 10, 1926and died February 7, 1959. He was a New Orleans blues guitar player from the 1940s and 1950s and is known best for the million-selling song "The Things That I Used to Do", which he said came to him in a dream. That song is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.He was raised by his grandmother and spent his teen years working in cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local juke joints and starting sitting in as a singer or dancer. He was nicknamed "Limber Legs”.
     After returning from World War II, he started playing in and around New Orleans.. Bandleader Willie Warren had introduced him to the guitar, and he was particularly influenced by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. He took the stage name “Guitar Slim” in the 50’s and was known for his wild act on stage. He dyed his hair to match his brightly colored cloths and had an assistant follow him around the audience with a long cord. Sometimes he got on the assistant’s shoulders or take his guitar outside and stop traffic. His distorted a guitar playing was unusual for thhe time. Later rock guitarists used the distorted sounds.. His gospel influenced vocals were easily identified.
     Slim was a heavy drinker and a womanizer. In 1954 he missed some tour dates due to a car accident involving alcohol. He usually had a different woman with him every night. He continued to write and tour, and had some other hits such as "It Hurts To Love Someone" and "Down Through The Years," but nothing at the level of "The Things That I Used To Do." He recorded on many labels. Guilar Slim died of alcoholism in 1959 at the age of 32. After his death blues musician Pat Chase took up the name "Guitar Slim" as a tribute to his legacy in 1971



Guitar Slim Jr.
Despite the fact that his first album "The Story of My Life", earned a Grammy nomination, Guitar Slim Jr. remains a somewhat shadowy figure to the blues public. He is the son of Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones who was one of the fathers of electric blues guitar.. His real name is Rodney Armstrong. According to New Orleans-historian Jeff Hannusch's notes on Slim's 1988 album, he "has been a fixture on the Black New Orleans club circuit for the better part of 20 years...[but] doesn't get to play the posher uptown clubs." His Orleans album featured mostly covers of his father's inspirational blues, which he was loath to play earlier in life, but Slim is also known for his extensive soul repertoire.
      The album "Nothin' Nice" was released in 1996. It was the result of sessions that took place in New Orleans, Memphis and

Virginia Beach, Virginia. The first project of a small label that believed in the increadable talent of Rodney Armstrong

AKA Guitar Slim Jr. The production team of George Wayne, Art Wheeler and Billy Sturgis carfted a project that will stand the test of time. Reviews from around the world supported the idea that Guitar Slim Jr. has a voice and talent that has to be heard. With the help of Stax horn players The Memphis Horns, Guitar Slim Jr. would make his father Eddie Jones proud.

John Campbell
aka Johnny ‘Slim’Campbell

     John Campbell was born in Shreveport, LA, on January 20, 1952 and died, much to young, of a heart attach while sleeping on June 13, 1993. He was 41. He was first exposed to string music by his grandmother,when he was very young. She played a Hawaiian-style lap steel guitar. He received his first guitar at the age of five and was immediately wanted to learn as much as he possibly could.
     His family moved between Shreveport, Baton Rouge and East Texas, Musicians fulfilled his hunger. He learned his lessons well, as he began playing professionally by the time he was 13, opening shows for Blues greats like Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Son Seals and Albert Collins. He wholeheartedly studied the music of Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.
     Playing the guitar was an outlet for him; a method for reaching his inner self, his spirituality, and also to communicate with his dreams and nightmares.
     John Campbell's music had a dark side. His songs often deal with jealousy, revenge, betrayal, death and spiritual torment. The blues was his way of exorcising inner demons. Standing like a gladiator and armed only with his guitar and a few trusted mojos, he threw down a gauntlet in the darkness.
    Life may be a fiery inferno filled with pain, grief, and disappointment, but John Campbell never gave in. On every recording and at every performance he played it raw and without apology.
(Exerpt used with permission of Thomas Geiger devilinmycloset.net)
     He was one of those musicians that left you awed. His vocals were powerful and his guitar playing was extremely firey. When your hear him, you stop what you’re doing and listen, sort of mesmerized. His music will mark his legacy. Campbell's slide work on his steel-bodied guitar will forever bring out the mystical and spiritual world he possessed. It will also serve as a sad epitaph to the brilliance that John Campbell held and the rest of the world will never know.

Slim Harpo (James Moore) Slim Harpo is a Louisiana icon. He was born in Lobdell, Louisiana January 11, 1924 and died January 31, 1970 in Rouge. He was a blues musician. He began performing as Harmonica Slim in bars around Baton Rouge Later he accompanied Lightnin’ Slim,(his brother-in-law) in the studio and live. He started his own recording career in 1957. His producer, Jay Miller, named him Slim Harpo His solo debut was “I’m a King Bee”. Reverse side was “I Got Love if You Want It” He began recording for Excello Records Among them were "Rainin' In My Heart" (1961), "I Love The Life I Live", "Buzzin'" (instrumental) and "Little Queen Bee" (1964). On these hits he was accompanied by understated electric backing from the regular stable of Excello musicians — including Harpo's relaxed, almost lazy, performances set the tone for his subsequent work. His warm, languid voice enhanced the sexual metaphor of "I'm A King Bee”. He enjoyed a notable US Top 20 pop hit in 1966 with "Baby Scratch My Back" (also a number 1 R&B hit enhanced by James Johnson’s Chicken Scratch guitar licks)), which revitalized his career. Never a full-time musician, Harpo had his own trucking business during the 1960s, although he was a popular figure in the late 1960s blues revival, with appearances at several renowned venues including the Electric Circus and the Fillmore East. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on 31 January 1970 at the age of 46, and was buried in Mulatto Bend Cemetery in Port Allen, Louisiana. "Lightnin' Slim" Otis Hicks was born in St. Louis, Missouri March 13, 1913 and died of stomach cancer in Detroit, Michigan July 27, 1974, He is best known by the stage name Lightnin' Slim. He was a blues artist, specializing in Louisiana and swamp blues. The acknowledged kingpin of the Louisiana school of blues, Lightnin' Slim's style was built on his grainy but expressive vocals and rudimentary guitar work, with usually nothing more than a harmonica and a drummer in support. It was down-home country blues edged two steps further into the mainstream; first by virtue of Lightnin's electric guitar, and secondly by the sound of the local Crowley musicians who backed him being bathed in simmering, pulsating tape echo. As the first great star of producer J.D. Miller's blues talent stable, the formula was a successful one, scoring him regional hits that were issued on the Nashville-based Excello label for over a decade, with one of them, "Rooster Blues," making the national R&B charts in 1959. Lightnin' moved from Missouri to Louisiana at the age of thirteen. Taught guitar by his older brother Layfield. Lightnin' was playing bars in Baton Rouge by the late 1940s. He recorded for Excello Records for 12 years, starting in the mid 1950s. Slim often collaborated with his brother in law, Slim Harpo. In the 1970s Lightnin' performed on tours in Europe, both in England, Baton Rouge and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He was mostly accompanied by Moses “Whispering” Smith on harmonica. Lazy, rolling and insistent, Lightnin' Slim is Louisiana blues at its finest.
Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi December 10, 1926and died February 7, 1959. He was a New Orleans blues guitar player from the 1940s and 1950s and is known best for the million-selling song "The Things That I Used to Do", which he said came to him in a dream. That song is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.He was raised by his grandmother and spent his teen years working in cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local juke joints and starting sitting in as a singer or dancer. He was nicknamed "Limber Legs”. After returning from World War II, he started playing in and around New Orleans.. Bandleader Willie Warren had introduced him to the guitar, and he was particularly influenced by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. He took the stage name “Guitar Slim” in the 50’s and was known for his wild act on stage. He dyed his hair to match his brightly colored cloths and had an assistant follow him around the audience with a long cord. Sometimes he got on the assistant’s shoulders or take his guitar outside and stop traffic. His distorted a guitar playing was unusual for thhe time. Later rock guitarists used the distorted sounds.. His gospel influenced vocals were easily identified. Slim was a heavy drinker and a womanizer. In 1954 he missed some tour dates due to a car accident involving alcohol. He usually had a different woman with him every night. He continued to write and tour, and had some other hits such as "It Hurts To Love Someone" and "Down Through The Years," but nothing at the level of "The Things That I Used To Do." He recorded on many labels. Guilar Slim died of alcoholism in 1959 at the age of 32. After his death blues musician Pat Chase took up the name "Guitar Slim" as a tribute to his legacy in 1971
Guitar Slim Jr. Despite the fact that his first album "The Story of My Life", earned a Grammy nomination, Guitar Slim Jr. remains a somewhat shadowy figure to the blues public. He is the son of Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones who was one of the fathers of electric blues guitar.. His real name is Rodney Armstrong. According to New Orleans-historian Jeff Hannusch's notes on Slim's 1988 album, he "has been a fixture on the Black New Orleans club circuit for the better part of 20 years...[but] doesn't get to play the posher uptown clubs." His Orleans album featured mostly covers of his father's inspirational blues, which he was loath to play earlier in life, but Slim is also known for his extensive soul repertoire. The album "Nothin' Nice" was released in 1996. It was the result of sessions that took place in New Orleans, Memphis and Virginia Beach, Virginia. The first project of a small label that believed in the increadable talent of Rodney Armstrong AKA Guitar Slim Jr. The production team of George Wayne, Art Wheeler and Billy Sturgis carfted a project that will stand the test of time. Reviews from around the world supported the idea that Guitar Slim Jr. has a voice and talent that has to be heard. With the help of Stax horn players The Memphis Horns, Guitar Slim Jr. would make his father Eddie Jones proud.
John Campbell aka Johnny ‘Slim’Campbell John Campbell was born in Shreveport, LA, on January 20, 1952 and died, much to young, of a heart attach while sleeping on June 13, 1993. He was 41. He was first exposed to string music by his grandmother,when he was very young. She played a Hawaiian-style lap steel guitar. He received his first guitar at the age of five and was immediately wanted to learn as much as he possibly could. His family moved between Shreveport, Baton Rouge and East Texas, Musicians fulfilled his hunger. He learned his lessons well, as he began playing professionally by the time he was 13, opening shows for Blues greats like Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Son Seals and Albert Collins. He wholeheartedly studied the music of Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. Playing the guitar was an outlet for him; a method for reaching his inner self, his spirituality, and also to communicate with his dreams and nightmares. John Campbell's music had a dark side. His songs often deal with jealousy, revenge, betrayal, death and spiritual torment. The blues was his way of exorcising inner demons. Standing like a gladiator and armed only with his guitar and a few trusted mojos, he threw down a gauntlet in the darkness. Life may be a fiery inferno filled with pain, grief, and disappointment, but John Campbell never gave in. On every recording and at every performance he played it raw and without apology. (Exerpt used with permission of Thomas Geiger devilinmycloset.net) He was one of those musicians that left you awed. His vocals were powerful and his guitar playing was extremely firey. When your hear him, you stop what you’re doing and listen, sort of mesmerized. His music will mark his legacy. Campbell's slide work on his steel-bodied guitar will forever bring out the mystical and spiritual world he possessed. It will also serve as a sad epitaph to the brilliance that John Campbell held and the rest of the world will never know.