CD Review
Watermelon Slim
Big Shoes To Fill
(Southern Records SRG-1001)
by Gordon Baxter
Review date: February 2004
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Oklahoma based Bill "Watermelon Slim" Homan has been playing the blues
since the late 1960's. He has travelled a long road in the meantime,
playing guitar with luminaries such as Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, John Lee
Hooker and Champion Jack Dupree. It has taken until this year, however, for
him to release his debut album, "Big Shoes To Fill," recorded with his band
Fried Okra Jones ("Texas" Ray Isom on guitars, and Kyle and Adam Enevoldsen
on drums and bass respectively).
Things open in style with "Let It Be In Memphis" which trucks along nicely
thanks to some pounding piano form Bruce Bears and southern soulful horns
courtesy of "Sax" Gordon Beadle. and pumping piano get things going
nicely. Slim (or should it be Watermelon?) has a voice that sounds like he
has lived the blues, and that he means what he says. He also blows some low
down and dirty harp on tracks like "She Makes Me Earn My Money" and the
slow burner "I Got A Problem," and plays slide guitar and dobro.
Slim wrote all of the tracks here, with an autobiographical thread running
through the album. They encompass a range of blues styles, ranging form
jazzier material like "Shed My Blood In Mississippi" where he gets pretty
close to Tom Waits territory, to rockier songs like "Oklahoma Blues." Slim
has a sharp eye for detail, tackling contemporary issues in his lyrics, and
best line of the year must go to "I Don't Wanna Be Roadkill on the
information superhighway" from the excellent "WWW."
All good things eventually come to an end, and "Big Shoes To Fill" closes
out on a mellower note with "Red, White & Blues." Slim has a fairly light
touch anyway, even when playing rockier material. This one is capped off by
some nice touches on guitar and classy harmony vocals from Isom and Kyle
Enevoldson.
"Big Shoes To Fill" is a real grower, that just keeps getting better with
each successive play. Unlike many current blues bands, Watermelon Slim
really does sound like he means it. Supported by a tight band, playing a
range of very good original songs, it all adds up to make "Big Shoes To
Fill" a very successful debut that is well worth tracking down.
www.watermelonslim.com
www.southernrecords.com
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