Sarasota Slim 1991 Bourbon To Beale

Genre: Blues
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:47:00
Size: 107,48 MB

Album Notes:

From the heart of Miami to the soul of Chicago runs a road that Sarasota Slim grew up within sight of. It is the same road, coincidentally, that Dickie Betts sang he was born on in Ramblin'Man. Although modern life has left behind this means of linking cultures, Highway 41 figuratively connects today's breed of blues players from the South and the North in much the same way Highway 61 carried the music of an earlier generation down to New Orleans and back up again through Memphis to St. Louis. And yes, Sarasota Slim has taken Highway 41 south many a time ... to play Miami's historic Tobacco Road. But these days his sights are aimed more toward Chicago.

Sarasota Slim fronts a three piece powerhouse with a small arsenal of blues styles ranging from the simplistic strength of the Delta to the electric big city sound with a seemingly endless variation of leads obtainable from his dobro, slide, and electric guitars. The band's pure blues repertoire is complimented by his vocal talents that allow for a change from grit and growl to slow, smooth, blue eyed soul. Sarasota Slim's performances exemplify an American art form, with its roots in the South, adapting to contemporary tastes without abandoning tradition.

As a skinny teenager trying to play guitar, Sarasota Slim's influences were typical of the American interest in blues based rock during the late sixties and early seventies. While probably it was attending some of the first Florida performances of the Allman Brothers, Johnny Winter, and Freddie King that proved his blues beacon. Lots of determination and several years later a local harp hotshot, Rock Bottom, helped affirm his destiny by suggesting that a guy who played guitar like that couldn't call himself Gene Hardage anymore. And having had Greg Allman sit in with him a couple of times since then only reiterated his belief that blues has been his road to follow ... but a more likely explanation of this modem bluesboy's story in that Highway 41 was singing Sarasota Slim a tune each time he went down it.

"Sarasota Slim plays the blues - the Florida blues. You know, the music culled from the atmosphere and ambience permeating the Allman Brothers Band's early days in the Sunshine State ... The group relies heavily on organ, piano, and guitar to showcase a gritty blues sound ... Hardage is an excellent slide guitarist. He's fashioned a homemade pickup for his dobro that gives him the biting sustain slide players seek... So be it B.B. King or Albert King, Sarasota Slim plays the blues with passion and pride, carrying on a tradition that the world now recognizes as an integral part of a distinctly American tradition." Willard Strong, The News & Courier, Charleston, Sc. December 11, 1987.

"During an eye-opening half hour, Slim (Gene Hardage) showed that he is one great blues guitarist."

"If there were no Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slim would be it. He mixes fluid phrases, slippery chords and crying bent notes into his seamless solos. He takes the standard lexicon of blues lines and licks and punches it up with swaggering technique." Eric Snider, St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersbourg, Fl, October 7, 1989.

"... a Florida outfit that mixes Chicago-style shuffles with Delta - and Allman Brothers -style slide guitars...

Sarasota Slim, who with his long, wispy blonde hair looks like Duane Allman even more than he sometimes sounds like him... Slim's sound is a fine bracing gumbo of Otis Rush, Stevie Ray, Johnny Winter (especially in the vocals) and early Allman Brothers. If that sounds like too many cooks stirring the broth, it doesn't translate that way on stage. Slim's tone is nice and fat like Rush's, and his slide work has much of the bite and control Allman was known for." Dave Ferman, Fort Worth-Star Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, March 16, 1990.


Tracklist:

01 - Bourbon To Beale 04:16

02 - Tin Pan Alley 05:05

03 - Things Ain't Going Right 05:32

04 - Light My Fuse 03:14

05 - Siesta Salsa 05:25

06 - Mistakes In The Game Of Love 03:15

07 - Cryin' For My Baby 02:36

08 - Go Underground 03:29

09 - I've Got Friends 04:13

10 - Last Night 03:38

11 - Diving Duck 02:59

12 - Party All Night 03:18





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