You are not surprised when Watermelon Slim walks into a roadhouse. With his baseball cap and grooved face, he could pass for a trucker. He worked as a truck driver for a number of years and not only that. Slim has also worked as a journalist, soldier (he served in Vietnam), undertaker and melon farmer (hence the nickname). And in the meantime, he sometimes played with John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Riatt
… and Robert Cray, who happily took advantage of his playing on the dobro and steel guitar. Slim only released an album under his own flag in 2005 and was promptly awarded a Blues Award for best newcomer. Not bad for a man in his fifties. With this album, Watermelon Slim fulfills a long-cherished wish: to record a country album. Don't expect slick Nashville country, but thirteen cool 'truck driving songs' without frills. Cleverly lived recitation only enhances the credibility of this sympathetic album. (PdK)more