The story of a bluesman getting discovered late in life is one that has repeated itself a handful of times over the last few decades. There is a sadness to this story in the fact that talented musicians can toil away most of their life without having their music ever heard and appreciated by anyone outside of their immediate community. But there is also a triumph, a redemption of sorts that comes from this music finally reaching grateful listeners around the world. While visiting bluesman Little Freddie King in New Orleans, Music Maker Relief Foundation founder and president Tim Duffy met his cousin Alabama Slim, born Milton Frazier in Vance, Alabama on March 29, 1939. King and Slim often played together, with King’s scorching guitar backing Slim’s deep and smooth vocals that bring to mind the cool, flowing singing of John Lee Hooker. Duffy was struck by the musical chemistry between the two cousins, but also by Slim’s impeccable blues vocals. Slim became a Music Maker artist in 2004, and the organization helped him get a passport while also providing him support that allowed him to work on his music. The foundation also released Slim’s two records, Blue & Lonesome and The Mighty Flood along with performances in the U.S. and Europe.
In the summer of 2019, Slim and King – along with drummer Ardie Dean – finally found their way into the New Orleans studio called the Parlor. Over a span of four hours, the three musicians managed to cut an entire album, a remarkably fast time for any band let alone a group of blues elder statesmen. Cornelius Chapel Records collaborated with the Music Maker Relief Foundation to put out the record, bringing in Dial Back Sound’s Matt Patton of the Drive-By Truckers and the Dexateens for post-production. Patton was then joined by none other than Jimbo Mathus, and together they sequenced the record and added a proper serving of bass, organ, and piano to round out the sound. Fast forward to 2020, where high profile performances at events like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival were set to finally bring Alabama Slim’s music to large audiences. Of course, all of those were put on hold for the foreseeable future, but in January 2021 Slim’s album – simply named The Parlor after the studio where it all went down – was finally released. Alabama Slim is in fine form as he takes a no-frills approach to the blues that Glide contributor described in his review as “a great blues album with songs that is as great for sitting on a porch with a cold beverage by your feet as it is for getting your boogie on in your living room.” The album is proof that there is no age limit to making damn fine blues, and that Alabama Slim is a force to be reckoned with. This is perhaps best encapsulated in “Forty-jive,” a song that finds him laying down a brutal and funny lambasting of a certain former president.
Recently, Alabama Slim spoke with me from his home in New Orleans about making The Parlor, his own love of the blues, his chemistry with Little Freddie King and more.
I was reading that the album took four hours to record. How did you guys pull that off? That seems like some kind of record.
Well, Little Freddie King was with me, so when [Tim Duffy] asked me and Freddie to do it, we was ready. I mean, hey man, when you say, come and do something, we ready. We ain’t got to study over it or practice or anything because we be ready.
What’s your process like in the studio with Little Freddie King? Did you just sit down and go through one song after another?
That’s what we did man. We sat down and kicked it, one song after another. [Freddie] knows where I’m going.
So you’ve been playing music with Freddie King for a long time. Did he ever teach you anything in terms of music?
He showed me a few licks, you know, and he had his own band and I have my own band. But we get together – he don’t stay too far from me – but, we talk just about every day and whatever. And when you say music, we’re ready, man.
I know that there was some dubbing done on the album after you guys recorded so what do you think about the final product?
Well, I like it.
And how many songs on the album did you write yourself?
All of them except “Forty-Jive.” I really don’t know where it came from but we was in the studio and we was talking and we just come up with it, man. I don’t know who really came out with it or what, but we just did it. I can’t claim it, [Freddie] can’t claim it. That’s it.
So y’all were just sitting around talking in the studio and came up with that?
Yeah, we just came up with it man. I don’t know where it came from who did it or whatever, you know? Really it’s anonymous.
It’s such a different song from the other stuff on the record. Were you ever motivated to write about politics or touch on that in any way previously?
No, not really. Because, you know, you start talking about politics and suddenly you don’t know, man, you may get in trouble [laughs].
Do you normally pull inspiration for your songs from real life?
That’s real life, man. People go through all kinds of stuff in life. Sometimes you look in the mirror at yourself, and then you have to kind of step out from yourself and look back at yourself and really see what’s happening and what’s going on. You have to crawl out of yourself and look back because life can be real sweet and then it can be [crazy].
Yeah, like a roller coaster.
Yeah, you know when you go through things, like being mistreated or being hurt or a certain level like that? I just have to let it out, man. I mean, it’s in my heart, it comes from my heart and my mind. So I just let it out. Let it go. Because people out there have been through this stuff.
You’ve lived through some crazy times, I would think.
Yeah man I went through a hell of a time [laughs]. I get my guitar and strum on it and things just come to me, boom, boom, boom,. I love playing my guitar, and I think about those days and what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen or whatever. I just belt it out!
So you play the guitar first and just sing the lyrics, and they just come to you?
Yeah, right. At first I sit down and I think, I believe I’ll do this, and I get my guitar and start strumming and singing, and it comes out alright! You know, a lot of people don’t like the blues, some don’t like it because it be telling the truth. And then the truth sometimes makes you kind of giddy, if you’ve been hurt or been mistreated or something, you start thinking about that, you know? I just belt it out and let them have it, man, you know wire them up [laughs]! That’s kind of the beauty of it.
It’s interesting that you say that, that some people feel like that, because I think with a lot of blues, especially yours, the final music is something that you can even dance to.
Right. I play some things that slow drag on and some things that pack on.
The songs on this album, were they written recently or were they songs that you had kicking around for a long time?
Well, just kind of swish swash a little bit. Some I’ve just been kicking on. Then I’ll hear an album or something, and if I do it, I have to do it my way and put my words on it. When I do that stuff, people love it.
Are there any particular styles of blues that you’ve always found yourself drawn to more than others?
Yeah, when I was a little boy, my uncle and my momma had a [record player] and they still made records that if you would drop them, they would break. When they played Muddy Waters, I heard that, and John Lee Hooker, man, I just went AWOL – I like this stuff here! One of my producers – Tim Duffy – told me “your voice is like a cross between Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.” When I be playing a place, people come down and turn around and come back, and say damn, is Hooker still alive? I thought he was dead!
I just can’t believe listening to the album that your voice just sounds so smooth. It’s impeccable. Do you have a secret to keeping your voice in such good condition after all these years?
No. God gave me that. That’s my natural voice. I don’t try to imitate anybody or whatever.
So one of the only other things I wanted to ask you about was, you know, I was reading that you came to New Orleans in 1965. What the what was the blues scene like back then in the city?
It was ups and downs because at that time it was rock and roll going on, like Fats Domino, and you still had people that liked the blues. So we did fairly well. Not really good, but fairly well. So as we played, the people really liked it and we started having a pretty good crowd.
Did you ever tour outside outside the city?
No, I never toured outside the city until I met Tim Duffy.
And what’s it been like finally touring, bringing your music to new audiences?
When I started touring, we started playing places like Germany, Belgium, Paris, France, Spain, you know, like Barcelona, Madrid, places like that. And then later on in life I got a chance to go to the United Kingdom, even Scotland and London.
And you found that audiences over there appreciate the blues?
Oh man, they appreciate the blues, those people! You know, sometimes you’ll be playing and they’d be sitting down just like nothing happening. Then when you’re in the song they jump up [and scream], clapping and going on. They really appreciate the blues.
Do you get that same reaction in America?
Well, they don’t shout in America, they just move around and clap their hands. We have a good time though.
Were you planning to do some touring the past year with this new album release?
You know, I was going to go but when this pandemic came on they shut everything down. So I’m hoping that I can get back out there and do some touring.
