There’s nothing about Bill Homans that can’t be learned from listening to his music. The bluesman — well known by his true-to-life working man’s moniker of Watermelon Slim — writes the truth. It’s all you need to know.
Be warned, though, his truth is a world filled with truck driving, heavy equipment, fat cigars, skinny women, drive-by prayers and horsepower.
There’s other stuff, too, but his 2009 release “Escape from the Chicken Coop” shows why he’s a true bluesman. This album is his life.
He’s racked up more than a dozen blues music award nominations in recent years and earned praise from producers and musicians including Pinetop Perkins and Jerry Wexler.
His newest studio work also includes guests such as Gary Nicholson and members of Delbert McClinton’s band.
He lived in Oklahoma for years, earning a master’s degree from OSU in history. He also earned his keep in the years after the Vietnam War by tending a watermelon farm in far southeast Oklahoma called “Little Dixie.”
His gravelly, marble-mouthed vocals channel the best of Southern blues. His frank lyrics invoke smiles and sneers. His musicianship is simple and straightforward, down to earth and profound in its understatement.
Slim doesn’t fit the shackles of one genre. He’s definitely blues, but there’s a twang of country, a steely slide into Americana and a double-shot of punk ethos.