Slim (born May 17, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and banjoist from Duplin County, North Carolina. He is known for his banjo picking, his work with his band Wallow, and a long career as a member of String & Swine.
Early Life
Life was hard on the farm. Slim watched his siblings get hauled off to the packing plant, but he was the runt. No matter how much corn and soybean meal he ate, he couldn’t put on weight at the same pace as the others. This turned out to be great news for Slim’s lifespan, even if he didn’t know it at the time.
One day, during a particularly raucous party at the farm, Slim heard the most glorious sound coming from the barn. He slipped through the gate and wandered closer. What he heard changed his life forever.
“Let it rain, let it pour, let it rain a whole lot more, ‘cause I got them deep river blues…”
The next day, he found an old banjo in the corner of the barn and started picking. He practiced from sun up to sun down, finally with a purpose to his life. Not destined for the market, Slim became a one-man band for the farm, entertaining farmhands and guests alike, and the first song he learned to play was Deep River Blues.
Career
Slim got his first gig outside the farm at the local watering hole, aptly named The Watering Hole, and quickly earned a reputation as the best banjo player in Duplin County. He also found that the more he played the more weight he gained. Now past his prime to be turned into barbecue, Slim dove head first into the music scene.
String & Swine
It wasn’t long before he joined his first band, a Georgia-based string band called String & Pine. Slim’s addition to the lineup caused the band to change its name to String & Swine. The band launched a successful East Coast summer tour and gained recognition after a stirring performance at the Newport Folk Festival.
Wallow
After 15 years of hard touring, citing a difference in ambition, Slim left to start a new band, Wallow, with some friends he made along the way. Now a frontman for the first time, Slim guided the band to enormous success, first opening for some of the best folk and bluegrass musicians of the time and eventually headlining their own tours.
Wallow’s self-titled debut album reached Number 1 on the folk charts, and the follow-up, Carolina Mud, featured two hit singles that launched the band to new heights. The first, “Barnside Blues,” was an ode to Doc Watson and the song that charted Slim’s course in the music industry. The second, “Hello Out There”, was a nod to John Prine, who Slim considered the best singer-songwriter alive.
Solo work
Eventually, Wallow disbanded and Slim set out on a solo course, this time with enough credo to his name that he could pack amphitheaters, mid-size venues, and headline festival sets. At this late stage of his career, Slim could build his touring schedule to his liking and he regularly came back to his home state of North Carolina.
That’s where he first crossed paths with an upstart group of local boys that played folk and bluegrass style music with such a raucous abandon that he was captivated just like he was in that barn many years ago. He penned his final hit single, “Down With the Swine”, with them in mind.
Slim took such a liking to the boys that he helped them land early festival gigs and provided wisdom on navigating the waters of growing in the industry.
These days, Slim looks back on a successful career that kept him out of the slaughterhouse, loves trying out non-pork barbecue, and enjoys an occasional appearance on stage here and there.
Musical Influences
Slim has stated in various interviews that he owes his life to Doc Watson for that fateful day at the barn. “I would be stuck in the mud if I hadn’t had that musical nirvana in the early ’60s. Fate put me in that position and soul carried me the next 50 years.” He also credits Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, John Prine, and Levon Helm as key influences in his career.
Personal Life
With 11 siblings and dozens of cousins on the farm, Slim enjoyed an active childhood. However, by the time he was 6 months old, he watched all 11 get slaughtered for pork and bacon and that sent him into depression.
Though never married, Slim was known to frequent farms during his travels throughout the country. The number of litters he has fathered is unknown at this time.
A barbecue aficionado, Slim prefers not to eat pork, calling it a ‘personal decision out of respect for my family’, but loves venturing outside his Carolina roots with Texas brisket and he’s especially fond of a Santa Maria tri-tip.
While he doesn’t eat pork, he is extremely proud of the rub bearing his image and named after his most famous tune. “If you choose to eat pork, I won’t tell you otherwise, but I’ve been told that Down With the Swine Rub is fantastic on pulled pork, ribs, pork belly burnt ends, and pork loin, in addition to chicken wings and salmon,” Slim said in a recent interview with The BBQ Times.