WHO IS THIS GUY?

SHRIMP CITY SLIM (aka Gary Erwin) specializes in world piano blues* & original music.  Piano and vocals with just enough lively patter between songs.  He connects with his audience.  He entertains.

Born & raised in Chicago, SCS is now based in Charleston, South Carolina, performing throughout the Southeast and abroad.  The trademarked stage name « Shrimp City Slim » has been in place since the early 1990s.

*Simply described…a little Chicago blues, some New Orleans, swamp, Latin, and ambient piano.  The kitchen sink and then some.

THE LONGER STORY—————————————-

PERFORMING & RECORDING

SCS played his first paid gig at the age of ten (on drums, his first instrument, at a high school sock-hop in his brothers’ band…the gig paid $5.00) and has had a succession of original and/or blues bands since teenage years.  He has released over a dozen albums of all-original material (please see Discography on this site).  Downloads available across the internet.  Hard-copy CDs and cassettes (!) for sale at all shows.  His performance schedule (solo or occasionally band) finds him throughout the eastern USA, France, and elsewhere in Europe.  « You never know where the blues is gonna take ya ».

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MANAGEMENT & REPRESENTATION

From 1990-2013, Erwin represented, tour-managed, and accompanied a storied list of Southeastern blues/roots music characters including Walter « Lightnin’ Bug » Rhodes, Big Boy Henry, Drink Small, Neal « Big Daddy » Pattman, Chicago Bob Nelson, Beverly Guitar Watkins, John Lee Ziegler, Linda « Chocolate Thunder » Rodney, Wanda Johnson, Swamp Pop Shelly Waters, and others.  Some of their recordings exist on his Erwin Music record label and some savory tidbits can be viewed at Videos on this site.
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PRODUCTION & PROMOTION

It all started as an effort to replicate the rich and exciting blues scenes in his native Chicago.  Taking a chance (and bolstered by the success of his NPR blues show «Blues in the Night »), Erwin began putting on blues shows in his adopted home of Charleston in 1986, first renting an old theatre and staging a series of performances by legendary artists such as Henry Townsend,  RL Burnside, Mose Vinson, Johnny Shines, Dr. Ross, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Honeyboy Edwards, et. al.  That led to electric band bookings at numerous Charleston night clubs…and that led to festivals.

His festivals have included the Lowcountry Blues Bash (10 days long, Charleston, 22 years), Carolina Downhome Blues Festival (weekend, Camden, 25 years); American Music Celebration (Kiawah Island, 10 years); Piccolo Spoleto blues series (10 days long, Charleston, 15 years); MOJA Arts Festival blues series (various, Charleston, 10 years), and he started and booked the first five blues-drenched years of the Blind Willie Blues Festival in Thomson, GA (1993-1997).

Erwin’s ongoing productions include the Greenwood (SC) Blues Cruise & Festival of Discovery (a weekend in July, 25th upcoming in 2026), Blues By the Sea (Kiawah Island, SC; 20th annual happened in April, 2026); Lowcountry Cajun Festival (Charleston, April, 31st annual in 2026; Erwin booking since 1997), and the Blues Stage at the annual Pecan, Food and Music Festival (previously called Pee Dee Blues Bash, November, 30+ years, Florence, SC).

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RECORD LABEL/PUBLISHING/RADIO

Erwin Music (the label, since 1988), named after his much-missed record store of the same name (1987-1996), has released a string of cassettes (first) and (then) CDs by a variety of Southeastern blues and roots artists.  Several have won awards.

Erwin is a BMI composer/author and publisher (Blue Chasqui Music).

He produced blues (and Louisiana music, Latin, and world music) radio shows continuously in the eastern SC market (and eventually internet) for a variety of stations for thirty-nine years (1984-2023).  Times have changed.

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PRESS AND RECOGNITION

SCS has been profiled in various books published in the USA and Europe, including « Jazz & Blues Musicians of South Carolina » and « Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz & Blues » (both University of South Carolina Press), « Making Notes: Music of the Carolinas » (Novello Press), and « Blues » (Editori Literza, Milano, Italy); heavily-referenced in “South Carolina Blues” (Arcadia Publishing) and “Drink Small” (The History Press).    He’s been written up and his records and shows have been reviewed in Living Blues, Soul Bag, Il Blues, Blues Matters, Juke Blues, Blues & Rhythm, Back to the Roots, Charleston Post-Courier, Charleston City Paper, Charleston Magazine, and numerous other magazines and newspapers.

Charleston mayor Joseph P. Riley decreed March 27 to be “Gary Erwin / Shrimp City Slim Day”  in the Holy City.  Other awards:  Erwin is a member of the Lowcountry Music Hall of Fame, Círculo Hispanoamericano (Charleston), honorary citizen Comune di Gaglianico (Italy), and H.U.H.A.C.C.M.A. (Harlem’s Unsung Heroes of Afrikan Amerikan Classical Music Awards).

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More info available upon request.

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS FROM THE JOURNEY THUS FAR…