Bumble Bee Slim

With widespread popularity and a high volume of output, Bumble Bee Slim turned a conventional yet basic approach into an initial development of the Chicago blues sound. He drew much of his repertoire from the pioneering pair Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, extending Carr’s unhurried and understated singing manner together with Blackwell’s guitar methods. In the middle years of the 1930s he laid down numerous tracks for several imprints such as Bluebird, Vocalion, and Decca, placing him among the decade’s most frequently recorded blues performers.

Originating in Georgia, Bumble Bee Slim departed his birthplace during his teenage years. He entered a circus and journeyed across the South and the Midwest through much of his adolescence and early adulthood. He eventually settled in Indianapolis and performed at local gatherings and dance halls.

Bumble Bee Slim relocated to Chicago at the beginning of the 1930s. After several years there his recording work began, with his initial singles issued on Bluebird. He composed and taped material regularly through the mid-1930s and sold more records than most others active at the time. Beyond his own releases he also appeared on discs by Big Bill Broonzy and Cripple Clarence Lofton, along with additional artists.

Bumble Bee Slim returned to Georgia in the late 1930s. After several years he left once more, settling in Los Angeles in the early 1940s. During the 1950s he produced some West Coast blues sides for Specialty and Pacific Jazz that drew little attention. He maintained a low profile for the remainder of his career, appearing in various California clubs. Bumble Bee Slim died in 1968.