Sunnyland Slim live

Rare footage of blues piano great Sunnyland Slim live at the G-Note Tavern in Seattle in the early 1980s. Filmed by Sonic Video and recently discovered in their vaults. Sunnyland Slim was born on a farm in Quitman County, near Vance, Mississippi. His stage name came from the song “Sunnyland Train“, about a railroad line between Memphis and St. Louis, Missouri. In 1942 he moved to Chicago, where he performed with such musicians as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Little Walter. Sunnyland Slim’s first recording was as a singer with Jump Jackson’s band for Specialty Records in September 1946. His first recordings as a leader were for Hy-Tone Records and Aristocrat Records in late 1947. He continued performing until his death, in 1995. In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with members of the band Canned Heat and played piano on the track “Turpentine Moan“ on their album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of the band—lead guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry Taylor—contributed to Sunnyland Slim’s Liberty Records album Slim’s Got His Thing Goin’ On (1968), which also featured Mick Taylor. In 1988 Sunnyland Slim was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship.