Delta Bluesman Slim Fatz is an American Original

Playing Guitar, Singing or Telling Stories to the River's Rhythm

Nov 3, 2009

Blues is in the blood and bones of musician-songwriter Slim Fatz. It's in the rhythm of his speech and story of his life. But mostly, it's in the way he plays and sings.

Slim settles with his guitar on one knee and his feet positioned over a tambourine to the left and the legs of a microphone stand to the right. A rhythm begins in his feet and spreads to his fingers, and soon the guitar is squealing with delight, thumping and yodeling and making a joyful noise like no stringed instrument should.

Old School Delta Blues Played with Humor and Pain

Slim Fatz, aka Michael Garcia, is a blues man of the old school. He sings about hard work and rotten luck, long roads traveled for little return, ill-fated loves and inevitable losses, and spiritual yearning for a better reward.

But don't get him wrong. There's plenty of humor in his blues, just as there should be. He's not above making a bad pun and then pounding it into the dusty earth, such as the song Hoe de Culture (found on his latest album, The Original Slim), in which he sings about his hardworkin' hoe.

"She's a good ol' hoe," he says, explaining the song to a grinning girl in a Panama City, Florida, coffee shop one recent Friday night. "Got her for $12.95, plus tax, mm-hmm. I heard rappers singing about their hoes, so I thought I'd sing about mine."

What Pleases the Ear is More than Meets the Eye

Original Slim is Fatz' fifth studio CD, a collection of originals on the Aladdin Entertainment label. The 15 tracks were recorded in tiny Lynn Haven, Florida, and mastered in Nashville by Neal James, and they are pure Slim Fatz from the opening notes, where he talks and "mm-hmms" about using a slide, mm-hmm, to the closing strum as he philosophizes about death and sings of Goin' Home.

"Yeah, I like to play the slide 'cause you can play all them notes in between the notes," he says on the album and in a track at his web site. "Increases the, uh, the whatchamacallit."

Don't let his appearance or joking ways fool you - the wrinkled shirt and blown-out shoes, the rumpled work pants or uncombed hair, the scruffy beard. This man is an artist. Now on the far side of his 40s (at least -- he won't confirm or deny), and dealing with a medical condition that leaves him with chronic fatigue, he pools his energy to sketch and paint, to write and sing and play.

He often brings small watercolor paintings to his performances and gives them to folks who pick up a CD or who just look like they need one.

It's what he does. Compliment his talent and he's liable to say thank you, then point out that he practices that talent eight hours or more a day to make it work.

Traveling Minstrel Collected Stories and Accents from All Over

His singing voice comes from a low and rocky place, but Slim speaks in a softly hurried sing-song that comes from everywhere. The accent might be Cajun, could be from Jersey, and probably has more than a little Georgia red clay mixed in. It comes from living all over the place and collecting stories and retelling them.

According to his personal recollections, Fatz's own story started in New York City, where as a teen he first heard the Delta blues performed and picked up a guitar slide. Then, seeking better gigs, he moved to Baltimore and Memphis, then to New Orleans and Atlanta.

He grew a loyal following in Atlanta, and seemed on the verge of a career breakthrough, but his medical condition intervened, he says. Now, having relocated to the Gulf Coast to be closer to family members, his story hugs the seaside in and around Panama City, picking up new tales and playing odd gigs.

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