BORN:
January 11, 1924, Lobdell, LA
DIED: January 31, 1970, Baton Rouge, LA
In the large stable of blues talent that Crowley, LA
producer Jay Miller recorded for the Nashville-based
Excello label, no one enjoyed more mainstream success than
Slim Harpo. Just a shade behind Lightnin' Slim
in local popularity, Harpo played both guitar and
neck-rack harmonica in a more down-home approximation of
Jimmy Reed, with a few discernible, and distinctive,
differences. Slim's music was certainly more
laid-back than Reed's, if such a notion was possible.
But the rhythm was insistent and overall, Harpo was
more adaptable than Reed or most other bluesmen. His
material not only made the national charts, but also proved
to be quite adaptable for white artists on both sides of the
Atlantic, including the Rolling Stones,
Yardbirds, Kinks, Dave Edmunds with
Love Sculpture, Van Morrison with Them,
Sun rockabilly Warren Smith, Hank Williams,
Jr. and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
A
people pleasing club entertainer, he certainly wasn't above
working rock & roll rhythms into his music, along with
hard-stressed, country & western vocal inflections.
Several of his best tunes were co-written with his wife
Lovelle and show a fine hand for song construction,
appearing to have arrived at the studio pretty well-formed.
His harmonica playing was driving and straightforward, full
of surprising melodicism, while his vocals were perhaps best
described by writer Peter Guralnick as "if a black
country and western singer or a white rhythm and blues
singer were attempting to impersonate a member of the
opposite genre." And here perhaps was Harpo's true
genius, and what has allowed his music to have a wider
currency. By the time his first single became a Southern
jukebox favorite, his songs being were adapted and played by
White musicians left and right. Here was good-time Saturday
night blues that could be sung by elements of the Caucasian
persuasion with a straight face. Nothing resembling the
emotional investment of a Howlin' Wolf or a Muddy
Waters was required; it all came natural and easy, and
its influence has stood the test of time.
He
was born James Moore just outside of Baton Rouge, LA.
After his parents died, he dropped out of school to work
every juke joint, street corner, picnic and house rent party
that came his way. By this time he had acquired the alias of
Harmonica Slim, which he used until his first record
was released. It was fellow bluesman Lightnin' Slim
who first steered him to local record man J.D.
Miller. The producer used him as accompanist to
Hopkins on a half dozen sides before recording him on
his own. When it came time to release his first single ("I'm
a King Bee"), Miller informed him that there was
another Harmonica Slim recording on the West Coast,
and a new name was needed before the record could come out.
Moore's wife took the slang word for harmonica, added
an 'o' to the end of it, and a new stage name was the
result, one that would stay with Slim Harpo the rest
of his career.
Harpo's
first record became a double-sided R&B hit, spawning
numerous follow-ups on the "King Bee" theme, but even bigger
was "Rainin' in My Heart," which made the
Billboard Top 40 pop charts in the summer of
1961. It was another perfect distillation of Harpo's
across-the-board appeal, and was immediately adapted by
country, cajun, and rock & roll musicians; anybody could
play it and sound good doing it. In the wake of the
Rolling Stones covering "I'm a King Bee" on their first
album, Slim had the biggest hit of his career in 1966
with "Baby, Scratch My Back." Harpo described it "as
an attempt at rock & roll for me," and its appearance in
Billboard's Top 20 pop charts prompted the
dance-oriented follow-ups "Tip on In" and
"Tee-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu," both R&B charters. For the first time in
his career, Harpo appeared in such far-flung locales
as Los Angeles and New York City. Flush with success, he
contacted Lightnin' Slim, who was now residing
outside of Detroit, MI. The two reunited and formed a band,
touring together as a sort of blues mini-package to
appreciative White rock audiences until the end of the
decade. The new year beckoned with a tour of Europe (his
first ever) all firmed up, and a recording session scheduled
when he arrived in London. Unexplainably, Harpo --
who had never been plagued with any ailments stronger than a
common cold -- suddenly succumbed to a heart attack on
January 31, 1970. ~ Cub Koda
Biography courtesy of
All
Music Guide to the
Blues -
Paperback - 658 pages 2nd edition (1999) Miller
Freeman Books; ISBN: 0879305487 - the most
comprehensive guide to great blues recordings money
can buy. The online version of the All Music Guides
may be found at www.allmusic.com
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