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THE TOO BAD JIMS take their name from the seminal 1994 RL Burnside album ‘Too Bad Jim’ which features R.L. Burnside fronting a small juke joint combo tearing through some greasy blues. The Too Bad Jims initially started as a casual collaboration between two veteran and multiple award-winning blues musicians - Little Victor and Son Jack Jr. After relocating to London from Seattle, Son Jack Jr got in touch with Little Victor who was also living in London. They had connected via social media during Victor's days playing with Louisiana Red in the late 2000s but had never met in person until a couple of years ago. The duo became a trio when they were joined by drummer Nick Simonon (brother of Paul Simonon of The Clash). Nick had played with Pearl Harbour and toured with The Clash, The B-52's and Talking Heads, among many others. Nick keeps the three piece loose and together at the same time, much like RL's first drummer, the then 16-year-old Calvin Jackson.
When he was younger, Little Victor had in fact played with RL Burnside and many other backwater artists from the Memphis/North Mississippi area. His uncle David Evans had managed and recorded Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Jessie Mae Hemphill for High Water Records. Victor's cousin, legendary cult artist and filmmaker Tav Falco had filmed RL in his juke joint in the early 1970s and Victor clearly remembers watching the video over and over again when he first started to play guitar. Burnside himself showed Victor how to play some of his earliest songs including Black Mattie, Long Haired Doney and Skinny Woman.
The Too Bad Jims have recorded a killer debut album entitled ‘Over The Hill - A Tribute To RL Burnside’. Opting for the same type of funky, low-down approach that gives the music an immediacy that more polished blues albums lack. The album is a collection of some well-known and some fairly obscure songs from Burnside's back catalogue.
Live, the band play a gritty high-octane mix of North Mississippi Hill Country blues and boogie. This combination of rough and ready vocals, bare-bones electric guitars, slashing bottleneck, and a heavily rhythm-oriented groove, delivers a hypnotic, raw, and earthy sound typical of a North Mississippi juke joint.
‘A remarkable three-piece ... they represent the real essence of blues music, unfiltered and immediate’ - Blues Matters Magazine
‘The Too Bad Jims give the slogan keeping the blues alive fresh meaning - Blues Roadhouse
‘Relentlessly upbeat’ - Blues Blast Magazine (USA)
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Claypath Delicatessen, 57 Claypath,Durham, Durham, United Kingdom
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