Irwin Silbernik(guitar, keyboards) People say bluesmen are born not made… but those people never met SlackDaddy Irwin Silbernik, a self-made bluesman if ever there was one. Already an accomplished musician before he plunged head first into music of the delta and the soul of Chicago, Irwin started studying piano with professors from the American Conservatory of Music at age 7 and added percussion in addition at age 12. By 13, he started studying at Northwestern University. Throughout high school, he played in school bands, outside theater group musicals and majored in instrumental music at DePaul, and also studied at the University of Illinois. But three decades later he screwed up his courage and took the stage at the weekly pro jam At Gabe’s in Highwood, guitar in hand. Staying in the background for the first weeks, eventually Irwin stepped forward, took his share of solos and over the next months put the same discipline and work learning blues guitar as he did mastering classical piano. Originally recruited by the SlackDaddies as a keyboard player, Irwin has helped refine the band’s sound with his ever-improving guitar chops, and has developed his own fan base, chief among them the guitar retailing community who have supplied Irwin with his collection of somewhere between 10 and 211 guitars.