“Beat drummers are hard to find and that’s what makes George Sluppick an incredible asset to any group he plays with. He naturally kills the ‘one’ and then lays the backbeat so far back that the pocket gets spread out six miles wide.”

– JJ Grey of Mofro



When George Sluppick’s father and bassist saw his four-year-old son banging on an Animal Cracker box to Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours, he knew he’d found a home-grown rhythm section. George initially learned to play on a pieced-together, homemade drum kit his father created. Under his father’s tutelage, George learned the fine art of supporting a group and playing for the song. Shortly after, at the tender and eager age of seven, George played his first gig – the Goodlett Elementary Carnival and was paid seven dollars.



Born in Memphis, TN, George Sluppick’s love of music was certain. Steeped in the traditions of Motown, Muscle Shoals, and Stax, George drew upon the soul and funk embedded in the soil of Memphis, “The Home of the Blues.” “My mom used to play Rufus Thomas, Stevie Wonder, Dave Clark Five, Aretha Franklin, and Beatles 45’s. We constantly danced to them.”



While attending a performing arts high school, Watkins Overton, George Sluppick became a regular on the local blues scene and could be found almost anywhere, playing drums with some of the best the city had to offer. George went on his first tour with the Overton Gospel Choir to France in his junior year of high school. In 1986, not long after graduating, George was invited onstage to play with B.B. King, an influential and life-changing moment. “I was playing and B.B looked back and smiled at Don McMinn [on guitar] and then at me.”



One year later, Sluppick was awarded the opportunity to join blues guitarist Albert King for an East Coast tour, in which they opened shows for B.B., Karl Perkins and Waylon Jennings. George had already accomplished several life-long dreams by the time he was 19. For the next several years, George played in various local bands in Memphis, from blues to rock to country & western, and toured all over the Southeast, then pulled-up stakes in 1991 and moved to San Diego, California. For the better part of thirteen years, he enjoyed many successes in Southern California, including a year and a half stint with 50’s Rock-n-Roll troubadours, Sha Na Na, touring the United States and Japan.



Adept in many styles, George Sluppick is also a great funk drummer, and spent three years backing up piano/organ master Robert Walter - a founding member of the Greyboy Allstars. With Walter’s group, the 20th Congress, George shared the stage with legends such as Melvin Sparks, Fred Wesley, Charlie Hunter, Skerik, Karl Denson and many others. Over the next several years, George amassed a number of recording credits, including: Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Giving Up the Ghost; Gary Jules, Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets; As Good As It Gets Soundtrack; and the cat Mary, Her High, Lonesome Days.



In 2000, George Sluppick teamed up with Mofro and recorded their critically-acclaimed debut, Blackwater, which quickly garnered national attention on MTV and NPR and gained the hearts of listeners worldwide. Three years later, after helping complete Mofro’s second release, Lochloosa, George was asked to come on board as their drummer - an offer he had patiently been waiting for, and happily accepted. In 2005, feeling the call to get back to his homeland of the South, he relocated to New Orleans, but his time there was short-lived, as Hurricane Katrina blew in and displaced many folks. George took this as a sign and decided to move back to Memphis, where he currently resides. Mofro is set to release their third CD in early 2007.