No blues guitarist from the 1950s approached the sheer theatricality that Guitar Slim brought to every performance. With roughly 350 feet of cable linking his instrument to the amplifier, he would march onto the stage in a vivid suit of red, blue, or green, his hair dyed to match the chosen color. Across Texas and Louisiana, countless guitarists have named him a primary influence; Buddy Guy, Earl King, Guitar Shorty, Albert Collins, Chick Willis, and many others have repeatedly credited his lasting impact.
Born Eddie Jones in Mississippi, Slim had only a brief window in which to leave such a deep mark. He reached New Orleans in 1950, absorbing the explosive guitar style of Gatemouth Brown, yet his own ringing, distorted tone and gospel-tinged vocals remained entirely distinctive. His first recording session, for Imperial in 1951, proved unremarkable and gave little sign of what was to come. A 1952 date for Bullet yielded the fervent “Feelin’ Sad,” a number later interpreted by Ray Charles, who would also arrange and play piano on Slim’s breakthrough success the following year.
The release of the remarkable “The Things That I Used to Do” on Art Rupe’s Specialty label sent Slim’s profile soaring across the country. Recorded in New Orleans, the track blended a swampy atmosphere with a church-inflected arrangement and dominated the R&B charts for a remarkable 14 weeks in 1954. Although he cut several powerful follow-ups for the same label in a similarly intense style—“The Story of My Life,” “Something to Remember You By,” “Sufferin’ Mind”—along with the hard-driving rockers “Well I Done Got Over It,” “Letter to My Girlfriend,” and “Quicksand,” none returned him to the charts.
Slim moved to Atlantic Records in 1956. His later sides grew somewhat more restrained, though “It Hurts to Love Someone” and “If I Should Lose You” still evoked his earlier intensity. His off-stage habits proved equally unrestrained; heavy drinking and a fast-paced existence eventually took their toll, leading to his death in 1959 at age 32. Only in more recent decades has his profound contribution to blues vocabulary received full acknowledgment. One of his sons performs as Guitar Slim, Jr. on the New Orleans circuit, frequently including his father’s songs in his sets.
