Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover
The Memphis Flyer once proclaimed: "Does anyone in modern music have a more intriguing bio than Bill "Watermelon slim" Homans. Greg Johnson of the Cascade Blues Association stated: "First impression, disheveled and eccentric. Then you realize how honest and humble he truly is. His suit may be oversized, his teeth missing and his face looks worn, but for every line in Bill's face, there is a story to be told. His intelligence is baffling. He is as complete a showman as there is...his music is utterly authentic. As to his overwhelming flurry of success since his award winning CDs and award winning performances at the Blues awards since his illness, Homans added, "I have had the Hollywood ending to a life that really had nothing to do with Hollywood at all." He added in that interview that it is his 'quest to see, learn and to do as much as he can before the final bell rings.'
Born in Boston and having attended boarding school there, his family included a father that was a progressive attorney and ex Freedom Rider and a brother who was a successful banker turned classical musician and composer. Homans was raised in North Carolina listening to a maid singing songs from John Lee Hooker, earned a degree from Oregon University in journalism and history in 1986, a masters in history in 2000 and was a former member of Mensa. For thirty years, his journey led to being: a forklift operator, truck driver, saw miller (lost part of a finger), sold firewood, salesman, collections agent, funeral officiate and briefly dabbled in a life of small crime. Being a Vietnam veteran, he ardently supports veterans issues. Cory du Browe added, "Despite genteel family roots, college degrees, Mensa, Homans can relate to the notion that a life spent getting up off the canvas after getting knocked down is a life well suited to channeling the blues. Music has only been part of his extended courage otherwise known as life."
Wounded in Vietnam, he taught himself to play upside down, left handed slide on a $5 Balsawood guitar using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can and his Swiss issued Zippo lighter as a slide. He is the only veteran known to have produced a CD during the Vietnam war, Merry Brakes (1973).
Wanting to share the depths and complexity behind Watermelon Slim's facade, I wanted to ask him more.
Jonnye: You released two CDs recently, Escape from the Chicken Coop and Ringers. Is your transition in music an exploration because you can do it and are able to entertain other passions to keep yourself interested...or is it a departure that is going to continue. Many blues fans are worried. I have read that you were a "late bloomer" in the music world. Your sound (thirty years in the making) is now so distinctive that many blues fans are afraid that they will not get more blues from you.
Watermelon Slim: (thoughtfully and earnestly) It took me a long time to "learn" my own style. (very seriously) I play left handed and backwards on a right handed guitar...like Jimi Hendrix. I had to become master of my own style to have people want to listen to me play. I am a musician, an artist and an acclaimed artist. Music, itself, is an exploration...it is always a continuing education of sorts style. Yes, it was an exploration. Yes, it may continue...possibly. Yes, I have five blues records in the works. I heard the blues first and have known and lived the blues throughout my life. I also have a "very fertile musical background." I am a country fan from my growing up in North Carolina. I am a fan of great "music technicians" (Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams and Hank Williams, Jr.) In the new year, I will have a blues release coming out that is a duet with Super Chikan. He's a real Mississippi bluesman. Those cuts were made in 2007 in Memphis. (We are both retired truck drivers and have a common love of music.) I have had a "large background" and plan to keep filling out more parts of it in the future. I have another that is a live solo album. If all goes well, Watermelon Slim and the Workers will have a new CD out at the end of 2011 or early 2012. There is a DVD release party at Ground Zero on Sept. 17 in Clarksdale, Mississippi and includes work from Charlie Musselwhite, Big George Brock and Jimbo Mathis.
J: During your days in Eugene, Oregon as a student and as a musician, how and who influenced your music. I understand from my talks with Curtis Salgado that it was a wild and interesting time for musicians. It was a "crossroads" for traveling musicians in a very "hip" town. I heard that your roommate and colleague was Henry Vestine from Canned Heat. Could you tell us something about those times?
WS: Curtis is a tremendous vocalist and has an excellent vocal presentation. Curtis is the most qualified person to speak about the last twenty five years of music. Vocals are/were my number one thing. I sang in the choir at 6 years old and was the lone boy soprano soloist in a major school presentation singing Ave Maria. (thoughtfully) Oregon was a great time. It was a virtual crossroads with many legendary and star west coast musicians playing...Lloyd Jones, Mark Hummel and Robert Cray. Yes, Henry "Sunflower" Vestine was a legendary part of the party arena. (Chuckling) He had cut down right before I started rooming with him. He died in 1997. We worked together for almost a year. We frequented Old Taylor's Tavern next to the campus in a band named, Church of the Blues.
J: I heard that you and Bonnie Raitt were involved in some protest movements back in Boston.
WS: (quietly) I don't want to get into politics but I will say that she showed up as a supporting act for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War on July 3, 1972. I was a big fan of Fred McDowell and wanted to send him a letter telling him that. (earnestly) She gave me his address. The letter arrived the day after he died. Bonnie and I went to his grave and sang acappella... a song of his that I have done for over forty years (Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning). Recently, Bonnie and I also witnessed the unveiling of Fred McDowell blues trail marker. Bonnie and I will be forever linked as disciples of the Fred McDowell style of playing.
J: How's your golf game. I was the one who wanted to drive your golf cart in Tunica right before the blues awards.
WS: (chuckling) I'll being doing more of that at the end of the tour season in November...it will still be warm here. Music is not all that I do. I have agricultural activities to do.
J: I first met you several years ago at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival. I was amazed that you politely let the security know that you were going out into the crowd and just have some ice cream. I love the fact that you are always among the people.
WS: The key to "me" is that I am accessible. I'm a journey man. I enjoy people and am empowered by people through the music. I end all of my concerts with...'God Bless ya'all.' Thank you. (emphatically) Those two words are the most important words that I use throughout the world in my travels. I always add..."Thanks for letting us share with you."
Thanks Bill Homans, aka Watermelon Slim, for sharing with us.
~Jonnye Weber
After note: The young guitar player that now has your black high top tennis shoes from the blues cruise charity auction was thrilled with your unique donation!
