Confessions of a Fanboy

I am fortunate to be in a line of work in which I sometimes get advances of upcoming releases. It’s pretty cool getting to hear things before everything else, but sometimes that joy can turn to agony. When I get an advance of something terrific, I want to go tell everyone about it but I might be the only one I know who has heard the record. It is not easy to have a conversation about a record only one of you has heard. They can politely listen to you yammer on and on about how great the thing is, but until the album is released it is all academic. Sometimes a record is so great, you don’t care.

Fortunately, this time, one my co-workers took my incessant yammering to heart. Rather than rolling their eyes at me, one of them took me seriously enough to ask if he could listen to the record. The next day, he walked over to my desk and thanked me – yes, thanked me – for introducing him to Watermelon Slim and his upcoming album, The Wheel Man.

Slim’s self-titled record is nominated for 6 Blues Music Awards this year- the most of any artist, and The Wheel Man just might be better!

Boys and girls, do yourselves a favor, preorder this record. There is a new star in the blues game and his name is Watermelon Slim. In addition to being one hell of a bluesman, he is also an interesting man. Slim (Bill Homans) is a certified genius. He holds degrees in history and journalism from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in history from Oklahoma State University. He is also Vietnam veteran who taught himself to play guitar while in an Army hospital, teaching himself left-handed backward slide guitar using a cheap balsawood guitar and a Zippo lighter as the slide. He is the only Vietnam vet to record a full-length LP album during the Vietnam War. It was the underground release, Merry Airbrakes, a protest-tinged record. Slim’s professional career included stints as a teacher, farmer, and truck driver. His life spent on the road driving truck is a recurring theme in many of his songs. In 2002, he suffered a near fatal heart attack and that brush with death seems to have been the impetus to pursue his passion for music and the blues full time.

The Wheel Man will be in stores April 17. Buy this record. You, too, will thank me. If you miss it, nobody will ever love you.

Complete Track Listing for Watermelon Slim & The Workers’ The Wheel Man:

1. The Wheel Man
2. I’ve Got News
3. Black Water
4. Jimmy Bell
5. Newspaper Reporter
6. Drinking & Driving
7. Fast Eddie
8. Sawmill Holler
9. Truck Driving Mama
10. I Know One
11. Got Love If You Want It
12. Rattlesnake
13. Peaches
14. Judge Harsh Blues

Filed under: Bloggin' the Blues, Watermelon Slim