Barry Darnell and the Mobile Slim Band

Barry Darnell aka Mobile Slim was born to a boogie-woogie ivory-tickling mother and a construction-working harmonica-playing father in the segregated Southern gulf coast: Mobile, Bay St. Louis, and New Orleans. He eventually moved to Georgia, where he played juke joints and honky tonks all over the Southeast, and sang for spare change on the streets of Underground Atlanta. Ever the rolling stone, He returned to the blues rhythm he had found in Georgia, this time to Macon, where he continued to make music and live out his groove. Things were pretty mellow, until Mobile Slim suddenly vanished after playing a gig downtown. Some people close to him reported that a few months before his disappearance he became very moody and secretive. He would be gone all night and return at ungodly hours in the morning. One day, a mysterious unlabeled tape was found there, and it was put on the stereo. First there was nothing, and then out came a blast of the funkiest rhythm and blues anyone could ever dream of, a six-course serving of soul food for the soul. They knew immediately what it was: the last known recording of Mobile Slim. Today it has come to be known as “the Return of Mobile Slim” Barry’s first studio album.