|  Slick
Ballinger - Mississippi Soul
{2006 Oh Boy Records}
Slick Ballinger is only 21
years old. One would assume he was a seasoned blues
player by listening to him play guitar and sing
the blues. That assumption would indeed be correct.
Slick started playing guitar at the age of 15. By
the age of 18 Slick shared the stage with Pinetop
Perkins, Othar Turner and many others. Ballinger
won the Albert King Award in 2004 for "Most
Promising Guitarist" at the 2004 International
Blues Challenge. Now, after a few years of becoming
friendly with the road, Ballinger has released his
debut “Mississippi Soul” on Oh Boy Records,
a Nashville-based label.
Keeping it simple, with only
a three piece band is more than Slick needs to win
blues fans over after hearing a few tracks on this
disc. Slick’s vocals and guitar playing are
great. Leon’s hard driving beats are cool.
Blind Mississippi Morris plays harp like you wouldn’t
believe. Put it all together and this disc kicks
some serious butt. This is an enjoyable cd for a
fan of some hard driving acoustic blues and fantastic
harp! I didn’t see any new tour dates posted
on his site but I know I’ll be keeping an
eye out for any news of a Midwest stop.
Slick Ballinger – Guitar
and Vocals
Blind Mississippi Morris- Harp
Leon Baker – Drums
1. SUGAR MAMA BLUES –
sweet and strong start, great harp and guitar
2. YOU DON’T LOVE ME- great remake of the
Willie Cobbs classic
3. BROTHERHOOD BLUES- soulful and grooving original
4. MISSISSIPPI SOUL– cool toe tapping and
hand clapping original
5. LETS GET DOWN- another original that really gets
down
6. ROSALIE- Slicks vocals really shine here on this
Muddy Waters tune
7. JUKE HOUSE BLUES- harp driven jump and shout
juke blues
8. BULL COW BLUES- another great upbeat blues jam
9. SLOW DOWN- starts slow but gets you rocking right
away
10. SLEEPING DOGS LIE- great beat, great harp and
Slick tries a little slide here too!
11. TALKING ABOUT JESUS- Bonus track, not listed,
cool gospel and blues tune!
I
give this disc 4.8 out of 5 on my STLBluesometer
rating. Go check him out yourself live on the web
at: www.slickballinger.com
Joseph
"UJ" Miller
email :: uj@stlblues.net
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