"Goleta Slim"
(Rusty Zinn) with Kim Wilson House of Blues Cambridge, MA
Kim Wilson is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up."
Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, but he grew up in Goleta, California, where he sometimes went by the stage name of "Goleta Slim." He started with the blues in the late 1960s and was tutored by people like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Albert Collins, George "Harmonica" Smith, Luther Tucker and Pee Wee Crayton and was influenced by harmonica players such as Little Walter, James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester. Before he moved to Austin, Texas in 1974, he was the leader of the Aces, Straights and Shuffles in Minneapolis, Minnesota—this band released one single. In Austin he formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. They became the house band at the blues club, Antone's, owned by Clifford Antone.
Wilson continues to perform up to 300 concert dates per year at blues music festivals and clubs all over the world, both as leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and with the Kim Wilson's Blues Allstars.
His powerful style of blues harp playing has been described as "loaded with the textures of a full-blown horn section."
Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, but he grew up in Goleta, California, where he sometimes went by the stage name of "Goleta Slim." He started with the blues in the late 1960s and was tutored by people like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Albert Collins, George "Harmonica" Smith, Luther Tucker and Pee Wee Crayton and was influenced by harmonica players such as Little Walter, James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester. Before he moved to Austin, Texas in 1974, he was the leader of the Aces, Straights and Shuffles in Minneapolis, Minnesota—this band released one single. In Austin he formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. They became the house band at the blues club, Antone's, owned by Clifford Antone.
Wilson continues to perform up to 300 concert dates per year at blues music festivals and clubs all over the world, both as leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and with the Kim Wilson's Blues Allstars.
His powerful style of blues harp playing has been described as "loaded with the textures of a full-blown horn section."
Kim Wilson, City Hall Plaza Boston, 1996
