Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Kim Wilson Shines on 2025 Release, ‘Slow Burn’: Review
by Jeff Burger
Singer and harmonica player Kim Wilson founded the Fabulous Thunderbirds with Jimmie Vaughan more than 50 years ago, and the group is still going strong, though Wilson is the only remaining original member. Meanwhile, he has found time to guest on dozens of other albums and issue nine excellent solo LPs.
Slow Burn, the latest of those albums, delivers a dozen blues-rock winners, all culled from five live-in-the-studio sessions in 2014 and 2020. Wilson’s backup bands on these dates feature three luminous artists who are no longer with us: drummer Richard Innes, singer and drummer Larry Taylor and keyboardist and singer Barrelhouse Chuck.
The selections, none of which have been previously released, include four originals plus covers of songs by assorted blues giants. It’s a diverse set that shows off Wilson’s versatility. Among the highlights are B.B. King’s classic “Sweet Little Angel,” which incorporates a bit of falsetto; Otis Rush’s “So Many Roads,” where Wilson’s harp playing shines, and Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Keep Our Business to Yourself,” which features mesmerizing guitar work.
The Nov. 21, 2025, release via MC Records is available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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