Guitar Slim

In the last session we covered Bo Diddley who commenced his 50 yr career in the late 1950s

Today, we cover another blues artist from the 1950s but one whose career was unfortunately far too short, lasting only 6 years from 1952 to 1959 when he died of complications brought on by alcoholism. The man was born Eddie Jones but better known as Guitar Slim.

A young Buddy Guy was one of many influenced by Slim to make the Blues his living. Guy would state in his autobiography, "Damn Right I've Got The Blues", "When I saw him, I'd made up my mind. I wanted to play like B.B. (King) but act like Guitar Slim." Lead in with:

1. Quicksand – April 1955 – Speciality Sessions – Tk 18 – 2.20

Guitar Slim was born Eddie Jones in Greenwood, Mississippi on December 10, 1926. His father didn’t stay around and his mother died when Eddie was just five. He was sent to live with his grandmother on a plantation. Living there, he worked in the cotton fields, ploughing behind a mule.

At a young age, Eddie would spend his free time at the local juke joints in Hollandale. He began to sit in with traveling and local bands as a singer and dancer. In fact, his adept skills as a dancer earned him the nickname "Limber Legs." At the age of 18, he got married, but the marriage didn’t last long – for half of its duration, Eddie was away in the army, including wartime service in the Pacific.

After the war bandleader Willie Warren introduced Jones to the guitar and he took his inspiration from the sounds he heard coming out of Texas, in particular, T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

By 1950, Jones had relocated to New Orleans. He took up the name Guitar Slim and began to experiment with newer guitar sounds that included distorted overtones a full decade before the likes of Jimi Hendrix did the same. He recorded four songs for the Imperial label in 1951, but they were unsuccessful. Next, he tried the Nashville-based Bullet label and enjoyed a mild regional hit with the single, "Feeling Sad". This brought attention from both the Atlantic and Specialty labels in 1953, who each tried to sign him, with Speciality, being successful.

Slim repaid Speciality’s confidence in him with his first recording:

2. The Things I used to Do – Oct 1953 – Speciality Sessions – Tk 1 – 2.58

This track was engineered by the New Orleans legend Cosimo Matassa and featured special guest 23 yo Ray Charles as arranger and pianist.

The song was an instant hit, in the R&B charts for 21 weeks, six at Number One, and would sell over a million copies. It also placed Guitar Slim on the road for a national tour, where he sold out major venues like the Howard in Washington, D.C. and the Apollo New York.

At the end of his tour, Slim decided to settle into a milder atmosphere and moved to Thibodeaux, Louisiana, in the heart of the Cajun country.

Another track, widely covered, from the same 1953 session.

3. Well I Done Got Over It – Oct 1953 – Speciality Sessions – Tk 2 – 2.22

By this stage, he had become well known for his wild stage act. He wore bright-colored suits and dyed his hair to match, and had an assistant follow him around the audience with up to 350 feet of cord. He would occasionally get up on his assistant's shoulders, or even take his guitar outside the club and bring traffic to a stop.

4. Sufferin Mind – Sept 1954 – Speciality Sessions – Tk 9 – 2.26

Despite strong singles like Sufferin' Mind and Quicksand, sales could not match the success Of "The Things That I Used To Do" and in 1956 Speciality boss Art Rupe decided to release Slim from his contract.

He quickly signed with the Atco label, a subsidiary of Atlantic, who had tried unsuccessfully to sign him in 1953. His writing skills had not diminished and over the next two years, he charted four more times, including the song, "It Hurts To Love Someone" and "Down Through The Years". Track from March 1956

5. Down Through The Years –– March 1956 - Atco Sessions – Tk 1 – 2.20

A couple of rockin’ tracks from this March 1956 session:

6. Oh Yeah – March 1956 – Atco Sessions – Tk 2 – 2.16

7. Pretty Good Room – March 1956 – Atco Sessions – Tk 12 – 1.59

B side from his second Atco single, Feb 57 ….

8. It Hurts to Love Someone – Feb 1957 – Atco Sessions – Tk 4 – 2.38

Last two sessions (Oct 57 and Jan 58) were recorded in NYC

The producer of these sessions recounted “Slim was a pretty easy going country boy. I remember he brought this girl into the studio and sang every song to her. This woman was beautiful, I think she might have been an exotic dancer, but the poor girl had to weigh 300lb (just under 150kg) I never encountered anyone quite like Guitar Slim”

9. I Won’t Mind At All – Oct 1957 – Atco Sessions – Tk 5 – 2.39

Throughout his career, Guitar Slim had led a hard life that was marred by heavy drinking and lots of female companions and it was this hard living that wrecked his health.

Two tracks from his very last session – a novelty track called The Cackle with his guitar doing chicken impersonations, followed by a Gatemouth Brown number,

10. The Cackle – Jan 1958 – Atco Sessions – Tk 13 – 2.15

11. My Time is Expensive – Jan 1958 – Atco Sessions – Tk 14 – 3.00

In early 1959, the band set out for an East Coast tour, despite the problems that his alcohol problem was causing. And it was as a result of these problems that Slim died, in NYC of bronchial pneumonia, on Feb 7. He was just 32 years old. His body was returned to Thibodeaux, Louisiana where he was buried in an unmarked grave with his guitar.

He was survived by a number of children from his various female companions. One of those children is Rodney Armstrong, born in 1951, who has followed in his father's footsteps, performing in New Orleans under the name Guitar Slim, Jr.

"The Things I Used To Do" still remains a strong Blues standard and has been honored by The Blues Foundation as a Classic of Blues Recording. One commentator wrote “Due to his unfortunate early demise, the world will never know how great Guitar Slim may have been. Those who knew him have no doubt of his greatness. Earl King places him on the same scale as B.B. King and Ray Charles. You need look no further than those who have named him as a major influence to see the truth: Albert Collins, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons are only a handful of this countless number.”