Slim Harpo - Rocks

2011 release

White rock bands couldn't get enough of Slim Harpo's atmospheric harmonica and nasal vocals. This is the music which inspired Canned Heat, Them, the Pretty Things and, of course, the Rolling Stones who revived I'm A King Bee and Shake Your Hips. Difficult-to-find selections include Cigarettes (digitally unleashed for the first time) and Slim Harpo's craziest rocker, Wild About My Baby. But the big hits are here too; no retrospective would be complete without Baby Scratch My Back and Rainin' In My Heart. Small ensemble electrified country blues that really rocks!

James 'Slim Harpo' Moore (1924 - 1970) crammed a great deal into his 45 years. One of the biggest Southern blues stars of the '50s, Slim Harpo appealed to rockabillies of all generations. Sun artist  Warren Smith covered I Got Love If You Want It while Marty Stuart revived Shake Your Hips. Rock 'n' roll collectors embraced Slim Harpo's originals and a slew of similarly crisp, pounding rockers on the Excello label. The white blues boom opened new doors for Slim Harpo in the mid-to-late '60s but, amongst the soul and psychedelic movements, Slim Harpo still found time to rock 'n' roll.

This collection draws on all phases of Slim's 13 year recording career. As reissues go, his finest up tempo sides are scattered all over the place but this compilation cherry-picks 30 of the best, adding his archetypal swamp blues ballad, 'Rainin' In My Heart', as a bonus. It's the perfect overview of a largely unheralded rocker.