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Magic Slim & The Teardrops /
Joe Carter with Sunnyland Slim
That Ain’t Right
Delmark DE 786
(2006) Recorded 1977


This album is the seventh installment in the Ralph Bass Series. Magic Slim became an internationally renowned artist and a blues legend, This 1977 session goes back to a time when Slim was primarily busy on Chicago’s south side hosting the Sunday jam session at Florence’s, or at other clubs like Theresa’s, The Checkerboard or The 1125 Club. His group The Teardrops consisted of brothers Nick Holt, bass; Doug Holt, drums and Coleman Pettis, 2nd guitar.

Joe Carter was one of the “unsung heroes of the Chicago club scene in the 1950s … a slide-playing twin disciple of Elmore James and Muddy Waters.”-Cub Koda, All Music Guide. This is one of only two sessions Carter ever recorded and it features Lacy Gibson, guitar; Sunnyland Slim, piano; Willie Black, bass; Fred Below, drums.


Magic Slim and the Teardrops have recorded and toured prolifically since the ’70s and still carry the torch as the hardest-driving Chicago blues band of all, even though Slim now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. This would have been Magic Slim’s American debut album had it been released in 1977. Joe Carter, on the other hand, did little after his session, continuing to play a few South Side taverns until health problems forced him off the scene. His death on June 15, 2001, went virtually unnoticed by the blues media. Joe Carter’s music is the vintage, down-home postwar Chicago blues of the type popularized by Elmore James and Muddy Waters. Joe’s specialty is his repertoire of slide guitar numbers—Elmore’s in particular. Complete notes enclosed by Jim O'Neal, founding editor, Living Blues

Magic Slim
1. In The Dark 4:09
2. She Is Mine 4:31
3. Strange Things Happen 4:44
4. Cummins Prison Farm 5:06
5. Soul Blues 4:54
6. Just To Be With You 5:12

Joe Carter
7. I'm Worried 4:31
8. Anna Lee 4:59
9. Sweet Home Chicago 4:39

Fred Below
10. Route 66 4:51

Joe Carter
11. Joe's Boogie 4:26
12. Stormy Monday 5:58
13. Bobby's Rock 5:02

Magic Slim, vocals, guitar
Coleman Pettis, guitar
Nick Holt, bass
Doug Holt, drums
March 22, 1977

Joe Carter, vocals, guitar
Lacy Gibson, guitar
Sunnyland Slim, piano
Willie Black, bass
Fred Below drums
April 5, 1977

Fred Below, vocal, drums
Lacy Gibson, guitar
Sunnyland Slim, piano
Willie Black, bass
March 8, 1977

The Ralph Bass Series
In 1977, Ralph Bass recorded, at the culmination of a brilliant career, a series of ten very brief and informal sessions - a survey of then lesser known talent on the Chicago blues scene including Carey Bell, Eddy Clearwater and Lonnie Brooks. Bass had launched careers by T-Bone Walker, James Brown, Little Esther and others. Delmark is proud to add these sessions, many previously available only as imports, to its renowned blues catalog.



Magic Slim
1. In The Dark 4:09
(Parker/Robey, Songs of Universal Inc., BMI)
2. She Is Mine 4:31 (Morris Holt, Shelview Publ. Co., BMI)
3. Strange Things Happen 4:44
4. Cummins Prison Farm 5:06
(William Cole, Allroads Music, BMI)
5. Soul Blues 4:54 (Morris Holt, Shelview Publ. Co., BMI)
6. Just To Be With You 5:12
(Bernard Roth, Arc Music Corp., BMI)

Joe Carter
7. I'm Worried 4:31
(Elmore James, EMI Longitude Music, BMI)
8. Anna Lee 4:59
(Robert Lee McCullum, Arc Music Corp., BMI)
9. Sweet Home Chicago 4:39 (Traditional, P.D.)

Fred Below
10. Route 66 4:51 (Bobby Troup, Troup London Music, ASCAP)

Joe Carter
11. Joe's Boogie 4:26
12. Stormy Monday 5:58 (Aaron Walker, Gregmark Music Inc./Lord & Walker Publ., BMI)
13. Bobby's Rock 5:02 (Elmore James, Arc Music Corp., BMI)

In 1977, veteran Chicago producer Ralph Bass struck a deal with another longtime pro in the music business, Henry Stone of Miami, to release a series of ten blues LPs for Stone’s T.K. Productions/Records. The blues business being what it was—and is, the plan fell through, and Bass ended up marketing various masters to a British label, Red Lightnin, and to a short-lived Chicago label called Second City. In time, the masters found their way to Delmark, finally providing an outlet for the series to be released on CD. To the list of sessions by Lonnie Brooks, Eddy Clearwater, Carey Bell, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Johnson and Lacy Gibson, Delmark now adds Magic Slim and Joe Carter. The sessions foreshadowed a blues movement to come, but no one knew it, or heard it, at the time.

As with several of the artists in the series, this would have been Magic Slim’s American debut album had it been released in 1977. At least, however, there is a positive spin to put on the long wait for its release on CD. Ralph Bass opted for a crisp, clean studio sound rather than the grittier sound the bands always employed in their live performances. In particular, he instructed the engineer not to record the guitar sounds as they came out of the artists’ amplifiers, but to send the signal through a cable direct to the recording board. Delmark has brought back Slim's amp sound so, courtesy of a 2006 remix, we get to hear Magic Slim much closer to the way he really sounded in 1977.

I attended most of the sessions in 1977 and wrote liner notes for the whole series. The notes, like the tapes, lingered “in the vaults” for decades. The Magic Slim and Joe Carter notes are printed below for the first time. As a brief update, Magic Slim and the Teardrops have recorded and toured prolifically since then and still carry the torch as the hardest-driving Chicago blues band of all, even though Slim now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. Joe Carter, on the other hand, did little after his 1977 session, continuing to play a few South Side taverns until health problems forced him off the scene. His death on June 15, 2001, went virtually unnoticed by the blues media. As a bonus for this CD, drummer Fred Below, who played on several of the Bass sessions (and on countless others during his renowned career as the king of blues percussionists), adds a swinging version of the song he loved to sing during his club sets, Route 66. More often than not, Below would sing this with The Aces (Louis and Dave Myers), but in 1977 he was employed at Louise’s South Park Lounge, working with the musicians who play with him on this track: Lacy Gibson and Willie Black. (plus Sunnyland Slim, who joined the band – then billed as Below & Co.-- on occasion). Below , who was born in Chicago on September 6, 1926. died on August 13, 1988.

Jim O’Neal (April 2006)

MAGIC SLIM -- 1977

Magic Slim and the Teardrops have emerged as one of Chicago’s most consistent, hardest-hitting blues bands during the past five years. Slim’s pure blues prowess is now known all over the South Side, and he’s been gaining a following among young blues enthusiasts on the North Side, and at several clubs in the Midwestern states as well.

“Magic Slim” is the colorful stage name used by the big, robust singer-lead guitarist, Morris Holt. Slim and his younger brothers, Nick (the bass player) and Douglas “Lee Baby” Holt (the drummer), came to Chicago from Grenada, Mississippi, where Slim and Magic Sam were in school together in the 1940s. When Slim ran across Sam again in Chicago in the ’50s, and sat in with him on a gig one night, Sam gave him the nickname he has used ever since.

The Teardrops have become such a cohesive blues unit because Slim has been able to keep the group working steadily with few personnel changes. None of the present bandsmen were members of the original Teardrops, but Nick and Douglas played with Slim in Mississippi and often sat in on his Chicago gigs before finally joining the band. For the past few years Slim’s band has also featured one of Chicago’s most effective rhythm guitarists, Coleman Pettis Jr., better known in the clubs as Junior Pettis or Daddy Rabbit. The Chicago blues scene remains as vital and powerful as it is through the activities of bands like this. An evening with Magic Slim and the Teardrops at Josephine’s, Queen Bee’s, The Wise Fools Pub (or, on Sunday afternoons, Florence’s) should prove that to anyone. Slim and friends are still stomping the blues every chance they get.



JOE CARTER --1977

Joe Carter’s music is the vintage, down-home postwar Chicago blues of the type popularized by Elmore James and Muddy Waters. While he may also sing an occasional tune by B.B. King, T-Bone Walker or Junior Parker, Joe’s specialty is his repertoire of slide guitar numbers—Elmore’s in particular.

Joe came from Midland, Georgia, where he was born November 8, 1927. He started playing blues there in the late ’30s, but he seldom plays any of the country blues from that era now. His present style only matured in the ’50s. By that time Joe had moved to Chicago and started playing amplified guitar. He met Muddy at the Club Zanzibar and says he later took over the gig for a while when Muddy went out of town. Joe met Elmore at Silvio’s, a popular West Side club, in 1952, and sometimes played bass guitar in Elmore’s band after that. He also remembers working with Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf.

For the past few years, Joe has been a regular at Louise’s, 379 East 69th Street. He performs as a featured guest, not a full-time band member, but since he lives just a block from the club, he’s there almost every night. He was a frequent attraction with The Aces at Louise’s until last year, and since then he’s worked with the new house band, Fred Below and Co. Joe’s other recordings include sessions for Vogue, in 1971, MCM, in 1975, and Barrelhouse, in 1976. Fred Below and Co., augmented by another favorite guest at Louise’s, Sunnyland Slim, joined Joe for this latest outing. Joe and his friends play much as they always do at Louise’s, and the music here shows why Joe Carter is such a favorite with the true blues lovers.

-- Jim O’Neal (1977)

Produced by Ralph Bass
Album Production: Robert G. Koester and Steve Wagner
Recorded at PS Studio, Chicago. Magic Slim songs re-mixed at Riverside Studio, Chicago by Steve Wagner
Cover and Carter photo by Rien Wisse, Slim and Below photos by Jim O'Neal.
Design by Dave Forte

Other albums in The Ralph Bass Series
Lacy Gibson, Crying For My Baby (689) with Sunnyland Slim, Lee Jackson
Eddy Clearwater, Boogie My Blues Away (678) with Little Mack Simmons
Carey Bell, Heartaches And Pain (666) with Lurrie Bell
Lonnie Brooks, Let’s Talk It Over (660)
Sunnyland Slim, Smile On My Face (735) with Lacy Gibson, Lee Jackson
Jimmy Johnson, Pepper's Hangout (745)

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CP 2006 Delmark Records