What a weekend folks! Yesterday I went to Stockholm and bought myself a brand new National Duolian (NRP) resophonic guitar. It's an amazing guitar with super cool looks and the greatest blues sound you could ever wish for. For me this was a dream come true. This is the same kind of guitar that guys like Son House and Blind Boy Fuller among many other bluesmen used during the 30's and 40's. A guitar built to deliver loud intense blues. I've been dreaming of having a guitar like this since I first heard the sound in the early 90's. I bought a french version of the Style O (made by a Selmer-related company in the late 50's)that has served me well over the years and I have a couple of cheap ones but every now and then I've felt the urge to get a REAL National. Over the last year I've been thinking about it more frequently and now it's a fact; a National Duolian!!! Oh my God, a NATIONAL DUOLIAN!

I've been playing like a mad man since I arrived home yesterday and it's such a wonderful instrument and all of a sudden I feel like a ten times better guitarist. The guitar brought back some memories from my first steps in to the world of blues and today I've been going from the guitar to my record collection listening to the records that made my life what it has been for nearly 20 years.

I was fortunate to discover this music at such a great time in many aspects. I worked in a very good record store at that point and could find all the great re-issues of the legendary blues without problem AND the blues world saw the birth of Blues Revue Quarterly. A blues magazine dedicated to acoustic blues! A wonderful guide of which I became a subscriber really early. I still read the first couple of issues, that was released in tabloid format, on a regular basis.

Through the magazine I learned about Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell, Bukka White, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Big Joe Williams,Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, Tampa Red, Hambone Wille Newbern, Blind Wille McTell, John Hammond, Paul Geremia, Catfish Keith, Robert Lucas and many others. I also learned about writers such as Samuel Charters, Paul Oliver, Stephen Calt, Gayle Wardlow, Robert Palmer and Peter Guralnick and bought as many books that I could find. I became obsessed. Went up before work and played, spent hours every day listening, played some more and read the books until I fell asleep. I had no social life whatsoever and never missed it one bit. I saved as much money as I could eating as little as possible and worked extra during the weekends in the winter and spring of 1992 so I could take a long time off during the summer of 1992.10 work free weeks that I spent playing the songs of Robert Johnson, Son House and many others from early morning until late night. When summer became fall I was certain. I had one goal with my life: To become a blues musician. It took two more years of playing at home, reading and listening before I transformed into ”Slidin' Slim” and since then I've been living my dream and from now on I will have a National Duolian as my companion on the rest of my journey. Shit man! A NATIONAL DUOLIAN!!!

Slim

In a few weeks we're reaching the 15 year anniversary of my very first blues festival appearance in Mönsterås. The days in Mönsterås back in 1995 together with David Book was so great. To be there among all the amazing blues artists and all the blues lovers felt wonderful. Since then I've played at more than 40 blues festivals in Scandinavia, Europe and USA. I feel extremely privileged to be a travelling blues artist and I honestly feel like the blues has saved my life, literally, more than once. It's a strong, almost religious, relationship too complex and serious to explain in words.

But like all intense relations I sometimes become that teenager that wants to break loose and run away from my destiny. I feel trapped and just want to leave it all behind and do something completely different. Especially after a gig like the one I did Friday night. Most things that can go wrong did. Time runned late, no sound check, bad sound gear, no soundtech, a sound on stage that was totally out of control...yeah you know what I mean. It is hard to play at your best at times like that. I felt truly sorry for the audience and I regret that I accepted to play under circumstances like that. But it is all my fault. It is always my responsibility to make sure that everything is secured to make it a good night for both me and the audience. Well, it's not the first time I experience something like this but I just wanted to let you people know that I feel bad about it and that I truly will do all I can to make sure that it won't happen again. In less than two weeks I will get out on the road again and I certainly gonna give it my best AND make sure that it sounds good.

During the months that I’ve been away from the live scene I’ve done a lot of thinking, maybe even too much. That’s how I am, a thinker. But the flipside of being that is that I also have a constant tendency of getting confused and to come up with new grand solutions too often for my own good. But inspired by the words of my good friend, producer and co-musician Niels Nielsen, a couple of hours together with my ol’ guitar and Robert Johnson I saw it all clear again and now I feel like I’m back on the track again sticking to my original plan.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Slim

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