Guitar Slim

Guitar Slim
Birth name Eddie Jones
Born (1926-12-10)December 10, 1926
Greenwood, Mississippi, United States
Died February 7, 1959(1959-02-07) (aged 32)
New York City, United States
Genres Blues, Electric blues, New Orleans blues, R&B, rock & roll
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Guitar, electric guitar, vocals

Eddie Jones (December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959),[1] better known as Guitar Slim, was a New Orleans blues guitarist, from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song, produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do".[2] It is a song that is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[3] Slim had a major impact on rock and roll and experimented with distorted overtones on the electric guitar a full decade before Jimi Hendrix.[4]

Biography

Early life

Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States.[5] His mother died when he was five, and his grandmother raised him, as he spent his teen years in the cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local juke joints and started sitting in as a singer or dancer; he was good enough to be nicknamed "Limber Leg."[6]

Recording career

After returning from World War II military service, he started playing clubs around New Orleans, Louisiana. Bandleader Willie D. Warren introduced him to the guitar, and he was particularly influenced by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.[5] About 1950 he adopted the stage name 'Guitar Slim' and started becoming known for his wild stage act. He wore bright-colored suits and dyed his hair to match them, had an assistant follow him around the audience with up to 350 feet of cord between amplifier and guitar,[7] and would occasionally get up on his assistant's shoulders, or even take his guitar outside the club and bring traffic to a stop. His sound was just as unusual – he was playing with distorted guitar more than a decade before rock guitarists did the same, and his gospel-influenced vocals were easily identifiable.[8]

He got together with Muddy Waters in Los Angeles, California for some lively playing.[9]

Recordings
Guitar Slim – "The Things That I Used to Do" (1953)
Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" (1953) featured an early example of an electric guitar solo with distorted overtones.
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His first recording session was in 1951, and he had a minor rhythm and blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles covered. His biggest success was "The Things That I Used to Do" (1954).[5] The song, produced by a young Ray Charles, was released on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label.[10] The song spent weeks at number one on the R&B charts and sold over a million copies,[2] soon becoming a blues standard.[1] It also contributed to the development of soul music.[11]

He recorded on a few labels, including Imperial, Bullet, Specialty, and Atco.

Death

His career having faded, Guitar Slim became an alcoholic, and then died of pneumonia in New York City at age 32.[12] Guitar Slim is buried in a small cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where his manager, Hosea Hill, resided.

Influence

Buddy Guy, Albert Collins[7] and Frank Zappa[13] were influenced by Slim. So was Jimi Hendrix, who recorded a version of "The Things That I Used to Do" with Steve Stills on bass guitar in 1969. Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded a cover version of "The Things That I Used to Do".[14]

One of Slim's sons bills himself as Guitar Slim, Jr. around the New Orleans circuit, and his repertoire is heavily reliant on his father's material.[7]

Other users of the name

Other musicians have used the nickname of 'Guitar Slim'; North Carolina blues guitarist James Stephens had several releases billed thus,[15] and Joe Richardson, often billed as 'Tender Slim', released records as by Tender 'Guitar' Slim and Fender 'Guitar' Slim.[16] Edgar Moore, also of North Carolina, used the name as a soul musician.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (Second ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 68–9. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  2. 1 2 Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 68–9. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  3. ↑ "Specialty Album Discography". Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  4. ↑ Aswell, Tom (2010). Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock & Roll. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company. pp. 61–5. ISBN 1589806778.
  5. 1 2 3 Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 115. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  6. ↑ Darwin Coleman (SHS). "Guitar Slim, Mississippi Musician". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  7. 1 2 3 "Biography by Bill Dahl". Allmusic.com. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
  8. ↑ Braun, Hans-Joachim (2002). Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 194. ISBN 0801868858.
  9. ↑ Oliver, Paul (1984). Blues Off the Record. New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. p. 266. ISBN 0-306-80321-6.
  10. ↑ Chris Woodstra & Stephen Thomas Erlewine (Eds.), Michael Erlewine, Valadimir Bogdanov, (1997). Allmusic. Los Angeles: Miller Freeman Press. p. 501. ISBN 0-87930-423-5.
  11. ↑ R. Unterberger, "Louisiana blues", in V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2003), ISBN 0-87930-736-6, pp. 687–8.
  12. ↑ Scott, Frank (1991). The Down Home Guide to the Blues. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. p. 59. ISBN 1-55652-130-8.
  13. ↑ Electric Don Quixote by Neil Slaven
  14. ↑ Archived March 20, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Illustrated James 'Guitar Slim' Stephens discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  16. ↑ "Joe Richardson Discography – USA". 45cat. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  17. ↑ "Soul Stories From N.C. An". Yumpu.com. Retrieved 2014-05-28.

External links

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