Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim, built the sound of swamp blues, lost everything to a rigged industry, and was working in a Michigan metal foundry when a fan knocked on his door and resurrected his career. In this deep dive we begin with the historical erasure of his early life: for decades his biography placed his birth on a farm near St. Louis, until researchers Bob Eagle, Eric LeBlanc and Gene Tomko used his Selective Service draft card and Louisiana State Penitentiary records to prove he was born in Good Pine, Louisiana, on March 13, 1913. We follow his family's move to Baton Rouge, the guitar lessons from his father and older brother, and the manslaughter conviction that sent him to the notorious Angola prison farm.

Then we trace how Hicks emerged into the late-1940s Baton Rouge bar scene, met J.D. "Jay" Miller of Feature R ...