Where the hell did this guy caught such a vibrato and high pitched voice ? It reminds that of Joan Armatrading in her beginnings. Today 38, Slick Ballinger was only 21 when he recorded this album.
Though from North Carolina, this musical prodigy traveled many times to Mississippi and quickly learned all about Hill Country blues from no other than the legendary Othar 'Otha' Turner, a fife & drum band mate of Jessie Mae Hemphill. Slick lived at Otha's farm for some time in 2002 and they became very close, he the clean-cut 18 year-old kid and Otha, who was then about 94. Is it then and there that he first felt the need for religious faith ? The fact is that the next year, after Otha's death, he moved to Como where he started to go to church often and learned to play and sing gospel while going on with his performing the blues with a small band, the Soul Blues Boyz.
In 2004, they played at the International Blues Challenge and won the second place trophy. That same year Slick was also honored with the prestigious Albert King Award as most promising guitarist. That also won them a record contract which materialized in the "Mississippi Soul" Blues Music Awards winning album two years later. He was young, he started to tour the US, Canada, Mexico, he was now famous. But a different destiny was meant for him...
"Mississippi Soul" is a damn good blues album ! A mix of traditional Delta and Hill country blues. The music boogies hard, Slick's voice is shivering and his down-home electro-acoustic guitar is rocking heavy, Blind 'Mississippi' Morris' is impressive on harmonica, and Leon Baker drumming gives it all this unique typical Mississippi Hill country boogie drum beat. But the real star is the incredible voice of this young white boy who sings as if he were an old black country blues veteran.
Slick takes full possession of covers and adaptations of traditional standards as if he created them himself. You dream you're at a country picnic, like those Otha Turner used to organize, with a band cooking hard to make people dance after the BBQ ribs, potato salad and home-made liquor.
"You Don't Love Me", "Mississippi Soul", "Juke House Blues" or "Sleeping Dogs Lie" are some of the hard-driving highlights of the album, but each track is really worth an in-depth discovery.
Comes the so-called hidden track, the hard rocking boogie “Talkin’ About Jesus”. I can't resist to quote the "religious" vision of the blues he speaks in the intro : “You know, the blues ain’t nothin’ but the trials and tribulations of what you’re going through in life. See, the old folks told me that every man down here on this earth is going to have the blues at one time or another, and that is the truth. They told me that long time ago back when the people was down in the cotton fields and tobacco fields and things, they said the blues was nothing but a gift from God down on a oppressed people. They said when He reached down and He gave these people there the ability to moan, [...] when He did that He gave them the ability to sing them blues… But right now people, we just got to give you the answer to the blues. Ain’t but one answer, and it goes something like this…”
All is said ! He soon got baptized, and a few weeks later while driving, would have been struck by the Holy Ghost. He then changed life and put his guitar, voice and musical talent to the service of the Lord, preaching and singing gospel blues (*) across the country. Not on the Chitlin' Circuit but on... the Evangelical one.
(*) For those who would like to listen to "Brother" Daniel Ballinger 2009 follow-up still rocking gospel-blues album "New Train", it's right here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkuvGDpoozo&list=OLAK5uy_nzehBCyG9wrOxO1iFsY-YyAQETlC_vvQw
> At the International Blues Challenge, 2004 : https://youtu.be/Y5_zYlOMdyQ
> At the North Atlantic Blues Festival, Rockland, Maine, 2005 : https://youtu.be/D4Okoiv0yno & https://youtu.be/S6D3le5xDkw
> With Billy Branch, Kenny Neal & Ronnie Baker Brooks aboard on The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise (2015 ?) : https://youtu.be/YMquOp6-CuQ
> At BB's Lawnside BBQ, Kansas City : https://youtu.be/mk2SQw5_qhg
> "Sugar Mama Blues" live in 2006 : https://youtu.be/HkIat-GnKa4
> At the Last Call in Fort Lauderdale, Florida : https://youtu.be/DDeYJaY_sqI & https://youtu.be/eRkk4PV_ofs
> At Parrish Baker Pub, 2005 : https://youtu.be/WZh1GxlOXCk
> At The Depot Antique Mall, Oxford, Mississippi, 2015 : https://youtu.be/Q3iWWaYnP9o
II. The Preacher
> "I Want Jesus To Walk With Me" at a R. L. Boyce Picnic in Como, Mississippi, 2017 : https://youtu.be/iDdY-FbZsec
> At a religious meeting (probably 2019, an idea of what he is doing nowadays) : https://youtu.be/LCsyyxRjPSc
> Performing "Morning Train" at a church assembly (the boogie's still there) : https://youtu.be/zA3uONg5ysQ?
> Giving his testimony at the First Apostolic Church, Knoxville, Tennessee, part 1 &2 : https://youtu.be/1XxtFBHF-xk & https://youtu.be/a9II8_QWo6c
> Performing "Down in Jesus' Name" and "Morning Train" at 1st Pentecostal Church, Collierville, Tennessee, 2009 (low sound quality) : https://youtu.be/ABj5M_cEH5w
> Singing "Old Ship Of Zion" at Victory Church in New Albany, Mississippi : https://youtu.be/JxMkr0wXz1I
> "Brother" Ballinger in church, Roxboro, North Carolina, 2014 : https://youtu.be/2Z92H4R3hq0
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