"Slidin´Slim is neither american, black nor old but still he performs genuine deltablues with impressive authority..."
Ulf Gustavsson, Uppsala Nya Tidning
"An impressive interpreter of countryblues who has a sound- both vocally and on guitar- similar to New Orleans John Mooney".
Scott Baretta, Editor of Living Blues Magazine, Oxford Mississippi
"Swedish blues doesn´t get any better than this..."
Motala Bluesklubbs website 27/11 2003.
The new CD with Slidin´Slim & Big Fred sounds like deltablues king Son House would´ve made a record with contemporay slidemaster Ry Cooder and Lowell George produced it together with Dr.John.
Recommended for fans of John Mooney, Anders Osborne, John Hammond & acoustic blues and rootsmusic in general.
Over the last 10 years Anders Landelius a.k.a. Slidin´Slim have spent most of his time on the road. His constant touring has taken him from the northern parts of Sweden to the south of Poland. Through his heavy touring schedule he has honed his skills and learned his craft the hard, and only(!), way. He is a well known artist on the Swedish bluescirciut (he has played at over 20 bluesfestivals since 1995) and is today considered to be one of the best acoustic solo performers in Sweden.
He also performs with pianoplayer Big Fred from time to time and sometimes with a whole band.
Early in 2004 Slidin´Slim signed his first publishing deal with Sweden Songs Publishing. A result of many years of songwriting. On "Ten Long Years" 8 out 11 songs are written by Slim alone and 1 together with Big Fred.
INTERVIEW WITH SLIDIN´SLIM
Slim, tell us how it all started
- Well, I have loved music whole my life really and some of my earliest memoires includes me sitting on the floor with my mum's and dad's recordplayer listening to Elvis. I started to fool around with music early. Tried to play some piano and later guitar. It didn´t sound very good though...
I might have been 10 or 11 when I started to dream about being in a band but it took until I was 15 before the dream came true. My first band instrument was the drums.
Was it blues from the beginning ?
- Oh no! This was the mid eighties you know. It was all hardrock and heavy metal I´m afraid.
It was loud, cool and seemed to be a good way to get girls. I guess the girl thing didn´t work out as we planned but hey, loud and cool ain´t bad!
When did you discover the blues then?
- Somewhere around 1991 I started to loose interest in pursuing the rockstar dream. I had the big luck of working in a great record store and one of the other guys that worked there was a really good bluesguitarist. I asked for a few tips about good blues records and he also gave me a few guitarlessons. You know, something just clicked. It was both weird and a bit scary really. From that point all I could think about was the blues. I read everything I could find about the blues and bought 100´s of records. I spent almost 4 years studying the blues from every aspect from history to playing. I know it sounds crazy but the blues almost became my religion.
Did you have any favourite bluesartists that influenced you?
- I tried to listen to as many as possible. But first it was the countryblues guys. I´ve heard most of them but I really loved, and still love, Son House, Big Joe Williams, Johnny Shines, Tampa Red, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson and, of course, Robert Johnson. Then I moved on to contemporary masters like Lousisiana Red, John Hammond, John Mooney, Steve James, Paul Geremia and Catfish Keith. After a while I also started to like electric blues like T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Liggins, Muddy Waters, Little Walter and well, the list goes on and on. Today I listen to everything from obscure deltablues to Robert Cray.
What about playing live?
- Well, I knew that I had to face an audience sooner or later but I was kinda scared too. I mean, the blues was, and still is, my life and I was afraid that people wouldn´t like me and my music. But I had to do it and, yes, it was awful! I guess I wasn´t that great but at least OK but the audience couldn´t care less. It was in a bar and I thought that people would listen to me (laughs)! All they they could care for was another drink and how to get laid! These days I've learned how work a crowd and now I can make them listen to me while they have that drink and think about getting laid!
Where to you prefer to play, clubs, festivals, bars?
- I´m not really in a position to be picky because this is what I do for a living. You know I guess I´ve played in just about every context you could think about. On the streets, at weddings and funerals, for 5 drunks at a club in the middle of nowhere and at stadiums for 8000 people. The most important thing is that people give me chance and listen to what I try to do then I usally enjoy playing. But of course, I love to play at bluesclubs and bluesfestivals is really great.
What´s your plans for the future?
- Right now it feels great to have a record out and I will work hard to make sure that as many as possible will hear it and hopefully buy it. I think it´s a really nice record and it was a pleasure making it with my good friend Big Fred. I hope that the record will open up doors for touring in other countries than Sweden as well. I also have started to write songs for a solo (just me and my guitar) record. I´m just looking forward to keep playing and do what I love the most.
Good luck and thank you!
- Thanks, I hope to see you all out there...
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.slidinslim.comTrack List:
1. Brand New Face
2. I Know Pain
3. Six O´Clock In The Morning
4. Through The Dirt And Shame
5. Follow You
6. Let It Ride
7. Boogie King
8. 16 Years
9. Gettin' Up Didn't Cross My Mind
10. Someday
11. True Love
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