OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

SLICK BALLINGER TO RELEASE DEBUT ON OH BOY RECORDS
Mississippi Soul Due Out March 14

Nashville, TN—One might say that the Mississippi River runs through his veins. Certainly the spirit oftraditional blues is the lifeblood of 21 year-old Slick Ballinger. Influenced by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, the North Carolina native and current Mississippi resident picked up the guitar at the age of fifteen and with it took the torch from a bygone generation and began to run with it.

Ballinger recently signed with Nashville-based Oh Boy Records, home to legendary singer/songwriter John Prine. Ballinger’s Oh Boy debut, Mississippi Soul, is being released on March 14. The record was produced by Jim Gaines (Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Thorogood, Steve Miller Band, Journey, John Lee Hooker). Ballinger refers to Gaines as a “genius,” saying that the renowned producer was able to capture the raw energy of his live sound.

On Mississippi Soul, Ballinger’s gruff but soulful voice and string-snapping guitar style are proof that oldschool Delta blues can not only be taught, but can be truly learned and transferred to a new generation— particularly on tracks like “Rosalie” and on the title track. There are also the upbeat tracks like “Jumpin’ Jukehouse“ that can and do make Ballinger’s audiences jump and scream for more.

Before he turned eighteen, Slick Ballinger was honored to share the stage with the likes of Othar Turner and Pinetop Perkins, and more recently with the legendary BB King. During the summer of 2002, a 94 year-old Turner took the young Ballinger under his wing and taught him how to live and breathe the blues, in a house with no electricity or running water. Turner was the last surviving master of the Mississippi back-country fife-and-drum tradition, a primitive take on African-American songs which dates back to the Northern Mississippi hill country culture of the 1800s. Living under such conditions is likely to drive a modern man crazy, but not when you are a young bluesman with an old soul like Ballinger. He and Turner rose early each day and led a simple routine of chores, followed by traveling the gravel roads of Mississippi to perform at juke joints and house parties.

The young Ballinger could never have imagined a better education, though he is truly humble and does not see himself as a prodigy. “Everybody does something well,” he says. “For me, it’s playing the blues. I can make the people of Mississippi jump up and shout, and they know something about the blues.” Ballinger also won the Albert King Award in 2004 for “Most Promising Guitarist” at the 2004 International Blues Challenge. Slick Ballinger is a young man with simple values, and sets out to make his music reflect that.

“All of the great artists that ever been, went down in history because of the simplicity of it,” Ballinger says. “Like Chuck Berry.” He pauses, then, like a wise old man, adds a simple sentiment that is the mantra of the young bluesman’s life. “Ain’t no use in making things complicated,” he says.