Watermelon Slim: “Traveling Man” (2020) CD Review

Traveling Man, the new release from blues musician Watermelon Slim, is a two-disc live album, containing music from two sets he performed in 2016. These are solo performances in intimate venues, both in Oklahoma, where he makes his home. He was, however, born in Massachusetts and schooled at the University of Oregon (two things I have in common with him), and his time in Boston has influenced at least one of the songs in this collection. On this release, he plays electric slide guitar and harmonica. The songs he delivers are a mix of original material and covers. As I understand it, these aren’t the complete shows, but this release contains more than an hour and a half of music.

Disc 1

The first disc contains music he performed at The Blue Door in Oklahoma City on September 24, 2016. After a brief introduction by Greg Johnson, owner of the venue, Watermelon Slim opens with an original tune titled “Blue Freightliner,” a song included on his 2004 album Up Close & Personal. This song has a classic, loose blues sound, with some wonderful work on slide guitar, particularly during that instrumental section. That’s followed by “Truck Driving Songs,” which has a more playful vibe and is a totally enjoyable song. “I do it for the money but mostly for the music.” Here he promises us that truck driving songs will never go out of style. Then in “Northern Blues,” he sings “If I stay here too many more winters, I believe that I might die.” Oh yes, that’s what leads many of us from New England to sunny southern California. This track features some great guitar work. And lines like “Got to take off down the road/Down the road I go” are always appealing. I also love the way he sings the words “Albuquerque, New Mexico.” At the end of the track he mentions that he wrote the song in Massachusetts. So there you go.

“The Last Blues” begins with some cool work on guitar. “At first I called this song ‘After My Heart Attack,’ but that seemed a little bit too direct,” he says after singing the song’s first line. I love the way he addresses the audience like that, even during a song. That great loose style makes me feel that it is something special to see him perform. “And my last words of advice, don’t sweat it when it’s your time to go.” That’s followed by “Scalemaster Blues,” another truck driving song. Both “The Last Blues” and “Scalemaster Blues” were included on Up Close & Personal. Watermelon Slim then turns more to a folk and country style on “300 Miles,” a song I’ll be adding to my road trip play list. This song was included on Escape From The Chicken Coop, which was released in 2009. In this one, he sings “I’m strapped to these wheels, more machine than a man.” Hey, is that a Return Of The Jedi reference? In this one he also sings, “Though I’m getting up in years.” Watermelon Slim is seventy years old. “It’s 300 miles ‘til I’ll rest again.”

He then switches from guitar to harmonica for a cover of “Jimmy Bell,” a blues tune written by William Carridine (also known as Cat-Iron). He starts this track with some nice work on harmonica. He returns to slide guitar for a cover of “61 Highway Blues,” another good choice for a road trip play list. It was written by Mississippi Fred McDowell. Watermelon Slim adds a spoken introduction, mentioning that Highway 61 is known as the Blues Highway. “You know that 61 Highway is the longest road I know/You know it runs down from Minneapolis, Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico.” This track features some exciting work on guitar. “Some people drive for money/Others drive for fun.” He follows that with a cover of “Smokestack Lightning,” which he says is by request. “I’ve been singing this since 1963,” he tells the audience, “when I heard it on a record by a group called The Yardbirds.” I think the first version I heard was by the Grateful Dead, an early tape when Pigpen was singing it. Watermelon Slim delivers a really good rendition, adding his own playful touches, and you can hear the audience laughing at one point. He combines “Smokestack Lightning” with “Two Trains Running” (also known as “Still A Fool”), a Muddy Waters song.

One of my favorite tracks on this disc is Watermelon Slim’s rendition of “Frisco Line,” another Fred McDowell song. He delivers an excellent performance, both vocally and on guitar. There are some delicious vocal touches, like the way he asks “What are you gonna do, boy?/What are you gonna do/When you ain’t got nothing left to lose?” This is a wild and wonderful track. The first disc then concludes with “Holler #4,” an original song in which he sings “You know I’m singing this song all by myself/Lord, I don’t need no band.” No argument there. This album is certainly proof of that. This first disc contains approximately sixty-five minutes of music.

Disc 2

The second disc contains his performance from February 28, 2016 at The Depot, in Norman, Oklahoma. There is no harmonica on this one, but his guitar playing is excellent. This disc also includes a brief introduction, and then Watermelon Slim gets straight to it with a strong performance of “Let It Be In Memphis,” delivered with a certain power to his vocals. And his guitar sings and pops. And, hell, this song is about death, which we will all be facing at some point. “No matter how you jump and shout/One day your candle is still going out.” Yet it is a fun track. It is followed by “Into The Sunset,” and this one is fun too, with more fine work on guitar. Watermelon Slim seems to have a whole lot of energy at this show. At the end of the track, he tells the crowd the name of the song, and says that it’s about retirement. As the track fades out, he adds, “I might never do that.” Well, from the energy here, it doesn’t sound like he will ever need to. He follows that with a good rendition of the traditional number “John Henry.” This one jumps, and it feels like that guitar is alive, able to leap off the stage if it so chooses. “Archetypal Blues,” a song from his Up Close & Personal album, also has a delightful and nearly palpable energy. In this one, he shouts out to several famous and influential blues players, then sings “My inspiration/Be my inspiration/Even though you’re dead.”

In the introduction to “Oklahoma Blues,” Watermelon Slim says, “I’ve been doing this song since… Well, it’s been going on thirty years at this point.” And when he says the song’s title, it gets a reaction from the Oklahoma crowd, as you might expect. This is a very cool blues song with a classic sound. The line “I ain’t got no insurance” certainly strikes a chord at the moment. As is the case with all the songs on this two-disc set, it is a solo effort, and so it’s funny to hear him encourage himself, “Play it, Slim,” before doing the guitar solo. I appreciate that humor. A bit of banter precedes “Devil’s Cadillac” as well. I love the darker, haunted vibe of this one. “The Cadillac was so quiet/Like the inside of a hearse/The air conditioning was so cold/Like a tomb or maybe worse.” The second disc then concludes with “Dark Genius,” a song from his 2017 album Golden Boy.  This is another intriguing song, dealing with death. This disc is quite a bit shorter than the first one, only approximately thirty-three minutes, but what a great thirty-three minutes.

CD Track List

Disc 1

1. Blue Freightliner
2. Truck Driving Songs
3. Northern Blues
4. The Last Blues
5. Scalemaster Blues
6. 300 Miles
7. Jimmy Bell
8. 61 Highway Blues
9. Smokestack Lightning/Two Trains Running
10. Frisco Line
11. Holler #4

Disc 2

1. Let It Be In Memphis
2. Into The Sunset 
3. John Henry
4. Archetypal Blues
5. Oklahoma Blues
6. Devil’s Cadillac
7. Dark Genius 

Traveling Man is scheduled to be released on March 27, 2020 through NorthernBlues Music.