Lynwood Slim & Junior Watson

Lynwood Slim felt there were only two things he could do to make a living: shoot pool or play harmonica. Thank goodness he chose to be a musician. As a child he played trumpet, but at 15 he picked up the harmonica. Initially drawn to listening to Chicago blues greats Jimmy Reed and Little Walter, he made the career choice after watching Brooklyn Slim, a/k/a Paul Oscher. Early memorable gigs including sitting in with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and other blues legends. When the southern California scene dried up in the mid-'70s, he packed up and moved to Minneapolis.

Less than a week after coming into town, Slim was recruited into a popular local band that had just lost its harp player, Kim Wilson, who left for Austin to form the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Eventually, he formed the Lynwood Slim Band, working often with blues veteran bluesmen Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston, James Smith and Walter Horton. His style of swinging blues won him numerous awards bestowed by the Minnesota Music Academy, and he documented his musical triumphs with his CD Lost in America, released in 1990; and Soul Feet, released in 1991 and reissued five years later. After a brief return to Los Angeles, moved to Chicago and joined guitarist Dave Specter in 1995. Several years later, family circumstances and a revived local music scene in southern California scene drew Slim home. Besides and active performance performing on the live L.A. scene, Slim and producer Jerry Hall have also produced numerous European and American artists over the years. In 1998, they set up their own record label, Pacific Blue Recording Company; World Wide Wood followed in 2000.

This California native brings years of experience, dynamic stage presence, powerfully expressive blues vocals, and some of the most exciting blues harp you're ever heard. His latest CD release, ?Last Call? on Delta Groove, brings together some of his long-time friends and cohorts on the west coast scene, including guitarists Kid Ramos and Kirk Fletcher, transplanted boogie-woogie piano master Carl Sonny Leyland, mandolin master Rich Del Grosso, and many others, as he explores all the many colors and flavors of his long and deep blues experience. In addition to leading his own band, Slim is occasionally featured as a guest artist with The Mannish Boys.

This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.