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Slick Ballinger - Mississippi SoulSlick 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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