Guitar Slim (Born Eddie Jones)
December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959
Guitar Slim was a New Orleans blues singer and guitarist whose “The Things That I Used To Do” is considered one of the most important records to the birth of rock ‘n roll. Slim learned to play the guitar as a child while working the cotton fields of Mississippi. After serving in the military during WWII, Slim began to build a local following due to his dynamic live shows. He was one of the first to wear outlandishly colorful outfits while sometimes dying his hair to match. And he is likely the first to commonly roam through the audience attached to a long guitar chord. On occasion he’d even walk out the front door of the club and literary stop traffic while playing a solo. He was also one of the earliest users of distortion in his playing. In 1954, he released his biggest hit, “That Thing That I Used To Do,” which was later covered by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy. Slim’s version was produced and arranged by a young Ray Charles. Just five years later, Guitar Slim died of pneumonia at the age of 32.
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