James “Slim Harpo” Moore

James Moore (1924 – 1970), known professionally as Slim Harpo, was a mainstay on the Baton Rouge-area blues scene, and the only musician from that milieu to score a national hit. In 1966, his sexy, sultry “Baby, Scratch My Back” reached number one on the R&B charts and number sixteen on pop charts. Such success on the pop charts – during an era dominated by the Beatles and the Beach Boys – was quite atypical for a song with a distinctively rural, Southern sound with the harmonica serving as the song’s dominant instrument.

Moore got his moniker due to his harmonica playing, because the instrument is also known as the “mouth harp.” In blues circles, this is often shortened to “harp,” and those who play it are known as “harp blowers.”

Moore was born in Lobdell, Louisiana, but grew up in Port Allen, across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge. By the 1950s, this area supported an extensive blues scene. In his memoir Mozart and Leadbelly, the acclaimed Louisiana writer Ernest Gaines recalls going to a Port Allen blues club called the White Eagle. The most famous alumnus of the Baton Rouge blues scene is the renowned guitarist Buddy Guy, who rose to fame after moving to Chicago. However, in and around Baton Rouge, prominent artists included Moore, guitarist and singer Otis Hicks (known professionally as Lightnin’ Slim) harp blower Leslie Johnson (known professional as Lazy Lester), pianist Henry Gray, and the rural guitar duo Silas Hogan and Arthur “Guitar” Kelly.

Many of these Baton Rouge blues musicians recorded in Crowley, Louisiana, at a studio owned by a songwriter named J.D. Miller. Miller was a paradoxical figure, often reviled for releasing a vicious series of white-supremacist “party” records during the peak of the Civil Rights era, yet he was skilled at producing deeply soulful and evocative blues records by African-American musicians. Although Miller owned several record labels, he licensed most of his blues recordings to a Nashville-based company called Excello. As a result, the great blues records by Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester, Silas Hogan, and Slim Harpo, although often described as “swamp blues,” epitomized “the Excello sound” – creating the mistaken impression that these musicians were from Tennessee.

Despite his stage name, Moore was not a harmonica virtuoso. His less-is-more style made suspenseful and effective use of silent space between notes. Moore’s singing also employed exquisite understatement and a soft, seductive tone. Moore enhanced this mood with original material that succinctly conveyed powerful sexual imagery: “I’m a king bee buzzin’ round your hive./I can make honey, baby, let me come inside.”

Moore began his career playing on records by Lightnin’ Slim, but began recording his own material as Slim Harpo in 1957, with “Got Love If You Want It.” (The flipside of this single, “I’m A King Bee,” was covered in the early 1960s by the British blues-rock band, the Rolling Stones.) In 1961, Moore’s ballad “Raining In My Heart” ascended the R&B and pop charts, and half a century later, it remains a perennial favorite in the overlapping genres of blues, R&B, swamp-pop, and zydeco. “Baby Scratch My Back” was Moore’s next and biggest hit. “Tip On In,” and “Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu” followed it with lesser success. The latter number extended a grand Louisiana tradition of similarly syllabic-entitled songs such as Smiley Lewis’ “Tee Nah Nah” and Ernie K-Doe’s “Te Ta Te Ta Ta.”

The Rolling Stones brought Slim Harpo to the notice of young white audiences, and he began performing at frat parties in the South and at hippie/psychedelic venues in New York and Los Angeles. Moore died unexpectedly at age 46 in 1970, while preparing for his first European tour in 1970. Moore would have enjoyed a major career advancement if he had been able to complete that tour.

Slim Harpo’s musical legacy remains undiminished today, especially in Baton Rouge – where some of his old band members continue to perform – but in blues circles worldwide. The most telling testament to Moore’s continuing influence is the continued vibrancy of the Baton Rouge blues scene, thanks to artists such as Larry Garner, Kenny Neal Chris Thomas King.

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Ben Sandmel is a New Orleans-based journalist, folklorist, drummer, and producer. Sandmel is the author of “Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans” and “Zydeco!”, a collaborative book with photographer Rick Olivier. Sandmel has produced and played on albums including the Grammy-nominated “Deep Water” by the Cajun/country band The Hackberry Ramblers.

Suggested reading:

Broven, John. South To Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous. Gretna, Louisiana. Pelican Publishing, 1983.

Sandmel, Ben. Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans. New Orleans. The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2012