The Slim Harpo Music Awards announced its 2014 recipients last week. Honors went to “Legend” Van Morrison, “Ambassador” David Couvillon and “Pioneer” C.C. Adcock.
This is the 12th group of Slim Harpo Music Awards recipients. The awards started in 2003, and they are named for the internationally known Baton Rouge musician who influenced and has been covered by a number of musicians including The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and Morrison.
The awards honor musicians and enthusiasts for their support of Louisiana’s music culture, particularly Harpo’s music and the blues.
“The board tries to pick people who have been both utilizing Slim’s material and recognizing his contribution and importance to Louisiana music,” says board member Johnny Palazzotto. “[Morrison, Couvillon and Adcock] define those descriptions.”
Morrison was a part of an Irish band, Them, whose first commercial recording included a cover of Harpo’s “Don’t Start Crying Now.” This year is the 50th anniversary of the recording.
Couvillon is the former president of the Baton Rouge Blues Society and currently on the board of directors of the West Baton Rouge Historical Association. He was instrumental in designating the entrance to the Mulatto Bend Cemetery on US Highway 190, where Harpo and his parents are buried.
Adcock is a guitarist, music consultant and producer who has been playing and pitching Harpo’s tunes for years. His current bands, Lil Band of Gold and Lafayette Marquis, both perform Harpo tracks such as “Strange Love” and “Shake Your Hips.”
“If you don’t know Slim Harpo, I don’t think I’d care to know you,” Adcock says. “He’s up there with Louis Armstrong, Hank Williams and Fats Domino. It’s not a stretch to say that his musical legacy contains the DNA for just about everything that has happened since in popular music. So many of Slim’s records transcend the blues or any style or era. It’s why so many others through the years have been inspired by them and found success covering and copying them. ”
Adcock says that, even today, he checks what he records against his old Slim Harpo records.
“The way [producer] J.D. Miller made those records is timeless,” he says. “They’ve had a profound influence on me. I reference my Slim Harpo records constantly when I’m in the recording studio. It’s so I’ll remember to try and invent something new and a little freaky-deaky on each and every track, and to keep it simple, cool and deeply swampy.”
No event is planned for this year’s recipients.
Past recipients of the award include Dr. John, Keith Richard, Warren Storm, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Neal, Tab Benoit, Buddy Guy and many more. For more information, click here.
