Every once and a while you come across an act that is not only refreshing but reinvigorating. Watermelon Slim and The Workers is one those acts. I had the pleasure of seeing them live at the Route 66 Road House in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In case you don't know, Watermelon Slim is the Oklahoma Bluesman who, although he started playing music in the 70s, only really got started 2004 after suffering a near fatal heart attack. He is the quintessential bluesman; old school, school of hard knocks, but yet he is not so usual either. He has master's degree as well as being a member of Mensa; the social networking group reserved for members with certified genius IQs. If you want more background, fellow Blogcritic Richard Marcus has a great interview with Watermelon Slim.
The show started off at 9:30pm with Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee." You could feel it in the air. From the first notes, people were already dancing and getting their grove on. They followed with "Hard Times" from the first Workers album which climaxed in a great dual between Slim on slide and Ronnie McMullen Jr., AKA "Ronnie Mack", on guitar. "Hard Times" was the song that was up for the Blues Music Award for Song of the Year.
One of the things that made this show so great was how personable Watermelon Slim is with the crowd and how much he tried to make sure that everyone knew it was the Workers that made this band a success. Between each song he would include the audience into the conversation as well by either letting us know some history of the song that was to be played or to give credit to the influence that made the song possible.
They continued the first set with songs like "I Got News", "Ash Tray's Full" and by the time they got into "Rattlesnake" the place was almost vibrating with frenzy. They finished up the set with "Dumpster Blues" and "Drinking and Driving." What I have to say is that while they sound great on their albums. The personal experience is so much better.
By definition, for Watermelon Slim and the Workers, a break means interacting with the crowd. Some of this time was a one-on-one interaction, but a lot was with small groups. Just like going down to the local bar with the people you work with. At the Road House, it was CD Release night. This worked effectively like a book signing, but with CD's. You buy a CD and one, or all of the band will sign it. Again, just getting to know the crowd!
Giving the Workers an additional break, Watermelon Slim came back on stage and did two solo numbers on his slide guitar. The first was one that has not been recorded yet, but was written by drummer Michael Newberry who asked Slim to make it into a Cowboy blues song. Slim made it very clear that he was a Cowboy (he earned his Master's degree from Oklahoma State University; home of the OSU Cowboys) and not a Sooner. He also did a second song, of which I did not catch the name.
Article comments
1 - Josh
Well done, man! Sounds like a great show. I've yet to see Slim & The Workers in concert -- I hope to rectify that this year on The Wheel Man tour.
2 - T. Michael Testi
Thanks Josh,
It was a lot of fun. Definitely go see them!
T.