Biography of Lightnin' Slim

Though he was born in one big Midwestern city (St. Louis) and died in another (Detroit), Lightnin' Slim epitomized the rural down-South blues of the '50s. His deep, deliberate blues set the pattern for the Jimmy Reed-influenced Baton Rouge blues style, and along with Slim Harpo, he was the most prolific of the Excello swamp-blues recording artists in the '50s and '60s. His one minor national hit, "Rooster Blues," was on the Billboard R&B charts for one week in 1959, but in the Deep South he remained a blues favorite until he left Louisiana for Michigan in the mid-'60s. He returned to action in the early '70s, appearing at a few festivals and on European tours, and some of the new material he recorded in Europe ended up back on the familiar Excello label when it was re-released in the US. ~ Jim O'Neal