Slim Harpo

By rolling country and swamp blues together up into a completely new place, then sprinkling in just a touch of Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo created a body of work for Jay Miller's Nashville-based Excello Records in the early '60s that has been as impossible to re-create as it has been influential. The rustic, laconic way that these recordings unfolded, aided and abetted by Miller's trademark, echo-laden production, makes them singular even inside the Excello stable. This succinct set has the best known tracks that Harpo released, including the songs "I'm a King Bee" (and its many variations like "Buzzin'"), the gorgeous "Rainin' in My Heart" (and its maybe even more impressive sequel "Still Rainin' in My Heart"), "Baby Scratch My Back," and "Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu," Truthfully, Harpo was a bit of a one trick pony, but that trick was so absolutely wonderful that one can never get enough of it. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide