Sarasota Slim 1997 Deep In The Southern Trenches

Genre: Blues
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:59:16
Size: 135,57 MB



Album-Notes:

It was the summer of '95 and the newest members of the band were really beginning to jell. We were becoming very rhythm and groove oriented, and I was just learning to like it a lot. So much so, in fact, that I had to find a way to capture some of our live performances. We were scheduled to appear at the Handy Fest in Florence, Alabama, in early August. This particular festival is a nice little regional event, consisting mostly of a "club-crawl" during the week and topped off by a few, fairly well known Jazz and Blues artists on the weekend.

The whole event - art shows, workshops, and outdoor performances - have a wonderful down-home feel due to the authentic small town setting and the musical history attached to it. W.C. Handy was born in Florence, but what really sweetens my tea are the recording studios in the Florence / Muscle Shoals area that helped produce some of the greatest southern-fried music you've ever heard. So I called a few Studios, here - there - and everywhere, and discovered that what with the recording engineers' schedules and equipment logistics, that I just couldn't find anyone to help me record on those nights.

So, feeling a lot like the little red hen, I thought - "I'll just do it myself," and set out to buy some recording stuff. We were actually on our way out of town when I decided to pull into our local huge music store to buy a nice simple little DÄT recorder. Twenty minutes later I walked out with one of those fancy eight track digital recording devices. (Musician's tip: never enter a major music store with a healthy credit card.) All of this would have you believe that we went up to the Handy Fest, recorded the gigs, and came back with eight tracks of blazing blues fury - not so. The first machine had some digital glitches and had to be traded in for another one. There were some technical problems I had to overcome. Another trip to the major music store with credit card in hand for some compressor / limiters and we were back on track. In the weeks that followed, we recorded all of our gigs. Another trip or two to the major music store for studio monitors, mixing board, and two track DAT recorder to mix with, and my credit card was really beginning to cough and wheeze. Finally - it was done! Mixed with my own little of ears from me to you!

Hope you like it - Gene "Sarasota Slim" Hardage

Final Note - if some of these songs seem a little long, they are. That's because I like to take long walks with my guitar and scream and / or sing into the Dano pickups on my Strat, and generally "act a fool" out at what should be your table!



Tracklist:

01 - Walking Blues 03:46

02 - A Nickel And A Nail 10:34

03 - The Things That I Used To Do 04:10

04 - Tin Pan Alley 06:41

05 - Three Hundred Pounds Of Lucy 06:59

06 - Shake Your Money Maker 03:05

07 - Crabs In A Bucket 04:14

08 - Born Under A Bad Sign 06:01

09 - Living In My Suitcase 05:54

10 - Scratch My Back 04:49

11 - Rum And Iko Medley 03:03





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Sarasota Slim 2000 Snookfishin

Genre: Blues
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:51:08
Size: 117,02 MB




Album Notes

"Sarasota Slim is not famous. He doesn't own his own tour bus or travel with an entourage. Nor are you likely to see him headlining shows at the Ice Palace. But Sarasota Slim is the real deal. A talented and tenacious guitarist, vocalist and songwriter who has been playing his craft relentlessly around the Southeast and on occasional tours to Europe for the better part of two decades. Slim is the rare hybrid who is able to incorporate both speed and economy in his tasteful, heartfelt chops. He also possesses a secret weapon that often suprises people when they first hear him: a beautiful, warm tenor voice, complete with good range, timbre and vibrato... ...Despite all the hardships facing a full time musician, the tenacious Slim just keeps getting the job done live and consistantly putting out good music.

1999's "Snook Fishin' " is his fifth release (Slim previously recorded four albums for Italy's Appaloosa label), and features Joel Hendrix on drums, Mike Chavers on bass and Quency Jennings on organ. Keyboardist Jennings has since been replaced by the band's newest member, Tim Heding. Heding boasts a gold record from his days playing with Gregg Allman on the "I'm No Angel" LP He's worked as a sideman for several luminaries, most notably The Godfather of Soul, James Brown" (Phil Colpas)



Tracklist:

01 - Anything You Want 02:23

02 - A Sandspur Needs A Foot 04:26

03 - Reach Out 03:47

04 - Thin White Bread 03:28

05 - Noodle Boogie 06:08

06 - Snook Fishin' 02:56

07 - Johnny's Breakfast 02:12

08 - Kudzo Killer 05:21

09 - I'll Be Your Fool 06:09

10 - Bourbon To Beale 05:46

11 - Traffic Jam 05:08

12 - I Don't Play The Blues No More 03:24





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Sarasota Slim 1991 Living In My Suitcase

Genre: Blues
Rate: 254 kbps VBR / 44100
Time: 00:44:30
Size: 77,38 MB



"On LIVING IN MY SUITCASE Gene Hardage (a.k.a. Sarasota Slim) and the band cook up a sumptuous mix of blues, jazz, southern rock, and gospel. Slim leads one of Florida's top blues bands and on this, his second album, Slim's singing and guitar work is in superb form. With a guest appearance by the great James Peterson (on "You Were Wrong") and the lush sound of the Hammond B-3 this is one of the best blues albums to come out of Florida this year." (Rob Lorei - "Blues Front Bop City" - WMNF 88.Sfm Radio, Tampa, Florida)



Tracklist:

01 - Living In My Suitcase 03:32

02 - You Were Wrong 05:49

03 - Rolling Stone 06:10

04 - Crabs In A Bucket 03:09

05 - Siesta Solleone 03:19

06 - Grind That Axe 03:41

07 - Trail Of Tears 02:36

08 - Shuffleboard Stroll (Revisited) 03:38

09 - Real Good Woman 04:27

10 - All Your Love 05:59

11 - Sulfer Water 02:10





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Sarasota Slim 2001 Boney Fingers

Genre: Blues
Rate: 128 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:53:12
Size: 48,86 MB




Veteran Bay area blues guitarist Gene "Sarasota Slim" Hardage confidently explores several varieties of blues on his latest release. Opener "I'm Gonna Get You" is Elmore James-style whang while "I Want To Know" travels the Delta-to-Chicago highway. The two-part "Booty Boomerang" is an infectious dance floor filler. "A Child Could See It" is a moody tale of bad love. Tight horn charts fire some tracks while a rotating cast of backing musicians carries the groove. Hardage's guitar work is clean and classy - he's got the chops to wail away but never overstays his welcome. (Curtis Ross)



Tracklist:

01 - I'm Gonna Get You 03:50

02 - Booty Boomerang - (Send) 05:22

03 - Out-O-Sight 06:25

04 - Swing Thing 04:40

05 - I Found Out 05:22

06 - I Want To Know 05:27

07 - Call My Name 04:55

08 - Meet Me When The Stars Come Out 04:18

09 - Booty Boomerang - (Return) 05:07

10 - A Child Could See It 02:50

11 - Calypso Joe 04:56





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Mark Olbrich feat. Sarasota Slim 2006 Blues Eternity

Genre: Blues
Rate: 320 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:45:20
Size: 103,67 MB




Review by Jamie Carter

I have listened to Sarasota Slim for a real long time. His arrangements with Mark Olbrich add another viewpoint to a distinguished collection of great rock and blues. These are gems inspired by the bayous and surf of the Gulf Coast mixed with the sultry influences of New Orleans and Key West. Be sure to check out "Boney Fingers" and "Snook Fishin'" by Sarasota Slim with a variety of his friends and fellows blues makers. You'll find that you need these like a "sandspur needs a foot!"


Tracklist:

01 - XXI C Boogie 03:09

02 - I'm Gonna Get You Baby 03:45

03 - I'll Be Your Fool 05:25

04 - Kudzu Killer 04:27

05 - Highway 61 04:41

06 - Bourbon To Beale 06:51

07 - Ceosscut Saw 05:26

08 - Reconsider Baby 08:43

09 - Shake Your Money Maker 02:53





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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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