With 12 Juno Award Nominations and 6 Juno Award Wins between the two, and a deep 10 year friendship that seems to keep on growing, together Bill and Slim are a highly creative professional force that loves to rock out as much as they love to paint beautiful musical pictures with their free and fluid interpretations of songs.
The blues has a prominent position in the music of Bill and Slim, but their musical influences stretch from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and similarities in their music have been acknowledged from such diverse regions as Madagascar, Africa, Mongolia, Spain, Nashville, Piedmont, The Caribean, New York and Canada, to name a very few.
It was a February night in 1997 that Slim and Bill first met back stage at Toronto's stalwart Bamboo Club. Slim joined Bill that evening for an impromptu jam on 2 show-stopping songs. They went on to perform for 7 years with the Juno Award winning combo, Tri-Continental, that included their good friend Lester Quitzau.
Together, Bill and Slim have created a brand new recording due this spring that includes the mystical strains of Malagasy Salegy in "Sangisangi" through to the Steve Earl-esque "Blue Eyed Moggie", which features Bill playing the Ektar and Slim's uncontested screaming blues rock guitar style. The spooky "Spike Island Raga" features Bill on electric slide and scat vocal, while Slim's beautiful nylon string guitar touch floats effortlessly around the recording.
Joining Slim and Bill on the road this year will be veteran Toronto drummer Michelle Josef (Ember Swift, The Good Brothers, David Wilcox, Prairie Oyster, Sharon Lois and Bram, Edmonton Folk Festival House Drummer for 20 years etc.)
These 2 artists are road tested and proven pros that consistently deliver the goods, connecting with the deep ground of highly creative world-class musical expression. Together they are a highly entertaining and powerful musical force.
