Slim Pickens

Chicken
Soup - Review

Although only weighing in at around 25
minutes, this is the kind of CD that makes me wanna whizz down the local bottlo
and grab some fine port before stoking up the fireplace and losing myself in
the warm bare bones style that is so refreshing. Double Bass player from
rockabilly band "The Purple Drippers," Slim has put together a mighty
fine country blues selection where he plays just about everything with the
exception of drums which are handled by Kayne Butler. OK, so the only original
here is the first track, and even tho I prefer CD's with more original content,
here I make an exception with Slim's finely crafted arrangements of tracks
penned by Roy Bookbinder - John Mayall - Hank Williams - Elmore James - Willie
Dixon and Ry Cooder, each song beautifully presented in a mesmerizing array of
sound that I call paradise. Foot Stompin' grooves, bare boned Delta fingerpickin'
styles and smooth vocals make you want to spin this a few times. Slim's musical
expression the Elmore James classic "You Gotta Move" stands out
alongside Ry Cooder's powerful slide guitar instrumental in "Feelin' Bad
Blues." Not only a great selection of songs but also great musical
presentation as well. Now for another bottle of that ol' Grandfather Port and a
few more logs in the fireplace :-)

                                                       
Mark ‘Radar’ Watson

Next
Time - Review

Appealing directly to my taste for
western swing

and cajun cowboy country, Next Time sees Pickens

and Baz trading songs and vocals and playing just

about everything besides drums and fiddle.

Dr Baz provides the bulk of the
originals, and his bent for bluesy, swinging jaunts put a smile on your face
rather than cause you to sit and muse. The only cover on the record is an ode
to some of the Delta Blues they began playing together as a duo – Memphis
Minnie McCoy’s “The Mill” – and they stamp their trademark swing on it. Indeed
everything on this record swings. Helped out by guests like Doc Span on
harmonica, Gleny rae on fiddle and Neil McCann and Rick Brewer on drums Baz and
Pickens have put together a little gem of a record.

                        

                                                        ..Martin
Jones (Rhythms Magazine 2009)

CD REVIEW

Slim Pickens

Happy Trails

One of a slew of (mostly unsung) talented roots artists you can regularly
catch in the Byron Bay area venues. Slim Pickens is singer, songwriter,
guitarist and producer with a penchant for the aesthetics of simpler times.
Think Woody Guthrie meets Ramblin’ Jack Elliot with a little Ry Cooder
unpredictability thrown into the mix.

Most commonly appearing alongside trusted buddy Dr Baz, here Pickens
releases a selection of songs under his own name, taking care of all vocals,
guitars, mandolin, banjo and bass and recruiting Baz for some piano and
accordion and Neil McCann for drums where required.

There’s one original composition on the record, written about local music
identity Alison Pearl and how she fended off a mugger in New York City. The
remaining material reveals Pickens’ musical inspirations, opening with
Mississippi John Hurt’s ‘My Creole Belle’, stopping at Guthrie’s ‘Dust Can’t
Kill Me’ and ‘Vigilante Man’, old-timey songs ‘I Will Fly Away’ (dedicated to
his father), ‘Tamp Em Up Solid’ (with acknowledgement of Ry Cooder’s version)
and ‘Can’t Get That Stuff  No More’
(Tampa Red). Most of these songs also demonstrate Pickens’ lively sense of
humour.

Part folk, part cowboy, part Cajun, Pickens assimilates his loves with
delicacy and ardour. If this record doesn't make you smile, you could be beyond
help.

                                   Martin Jones – Rhythms Magazine                               

                                                                             
Dec 2010

Rhythms Magazine Review April 2014 for “Hankering”

NSW North Coast local Slim Pickens has kept
himself busy in recent times, particularly now that he’s set up his own home
recording studio. Here he indulges his love for Hank Williams with a tribute
album to country music’s greatest singer-songwriter that coruscates with both
personality and reverence. Though Pickens is capable of handling most
instrumentation himself, he assembled a fantastic band to back him, with
regular cohort Dr Baz on accordion, Neil McCann on drums and Dougie Bull on
bass. The venerable Ray Cullen adds sweet old-school pedal steel and special
guests include Gleny Rae on fiddle and Warren Earl, who plays some very tasty
electric guitar.

Slim’s vocal approach is way more laid back
than Williams’ and that’s perhaps what gives this album its unique character.
His version of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, for example sounds like it was
recorded on morphine (that’s meant as a compliment).

The band is more than capable of getting
perky on songs like “Fly Trouble” (great guitar solo) and “Move It On Over”.
I’d prefer to listen to this homemade, heartfelt tribute to Hank over any
star-studded big studio production any day.

                                                                                                                            
.. Martin Jones

Trip
To mars – Review

So, if we were all asked to pick out our
favourite  dozen John Prine songs, I
wonder how much crossover there’d be. Ask around. I bet you’ll get wildly
varying answers. Prine was that kind of artist – a writer with an astonishingly
broad and deep catalogue. So Slim Pickens’ personal love letter on the passing
of Prine is exactly that - personal. No “Sam Stone”, no Angel From Montgomery,
no “Mexican Home”.

Obviously the album that means the most to
Pickens is Diamonds In The Rough. At least half the selections on Trip To Mars
come from that album, a couple more from the self titled debut and Sweet
Revenge. The exceptions are more recent songs “Egg & Daughter Night,
Linkoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)” and “Morning Train”. It sounds like
Pickens had a clear idea of how he wanted each song arranged and did all of the
recording and much of the playing himself. He had already started recording the
concept  when Prine became sick and died.
We can only imagine what affect  that had
on the project. Instead of causing him to give up, it inspired Pickens to
produce some of his best recordings to date. With some songs , like “Hello In
There”, he chooses to experiment with the instrumental arrangement. On others
he remains more faithful to the original. In some he sings so uncannily like
the original author, you almost forget 
you’re listening to a cover. Throughout all, though, Pickens inhabits
the original spirit of these great songs with an authenticity and reverence.

                                     Martin
Jones – Rhythms Magazine 2020