Crate Digger’s Gold: Slim Dunlap – The Old New Me/Times Like This

When I first picked up The Old New Me in 1993 I was blown away by how good it was. I knew Slim Dunlap from his time in The Replacements.  I saw his solo band live just prior to the release of The Old New Me when they were a warm up band for Bob Dylan (August/September 1992) and so I should have known something good was coming.  Times Like This came a couple of years later and was nearly as good. The two albums are favorites in my collection. I have them on CD and as a twofer on vinyl (the two albums were issued on CD only back in the day and were recently reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2015).  Unfortunaly they are not on Spotify (but they are on Amazon and iTunes).  The CDs are be easy to find used in the $8 to $10 range (the vinyl is still available too at a reasonable price too). 

Slim’s solo work remindeds me of Kieth Richards’ solo albums. Kieth had issued a couple of solo albums by that point. Slim had the same feel with a bit more country twist.  Slim has a very similar voice to Keith and he is a very cool guitar player with out being a virtuoso – again similar to Keith (primitive cool).  But probably the most shocking thing was he was a great songwriter.  You can get a sense of his songwriting on the tribute album (see below).  “The Ballad Of The Openning Band” is my favorite rock and roll song about rock and roll (see YouTube clip below).  

The albums have an easy going tossed off style, but at the same time it is tight – keep in mind this was a journeyman.  I am sorry to speak in the past tense.  Although he is still alive he suffered a stroke in February 2012.  I often wonder how many brilliant bar band mucisians there are like Slim slogging it out around the world. I am sure every mid-sized to large city has a few.  What makes Slim special to me is that he he made his career in my home town and he was a member of one of my favorite bands The Replacements.  

Make the effort to find these Slim Dunlap releases, it will renew your faith in rock and roll.  Worst case check out the tribute/fundraising album Songs For Slim (below).  That album reveals the greatness of his songwriting (and it also reveals he has some of the coolest friends and musician fans in the world – which is about better endorsement than this blog post).  Also check out the Songs For Slim site.