A two-disc reissue, the first half of a double live album, three fast-rising women singer-songwriters, and possibly the oldest artist ever to release a debut record: This month’s Founders’ Keepers column is a grab-bag of weird stories and musical wonders.
Slim Dunlap — Every Little Word
Which Slim Dunlap did you know? The ultra-cool nice guy who helped galvanize the modern Twin Cities rock scene in the 1970s? The one who admirably took on the difficult role of following Bob Stinson as lead guitarist of the Replacements the mid-late 1980s? The fortysomething songwriter who finally put out a couple albums of his own in the 1990s? Dunlap, who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2012 and died a dozen years later at age 73, was so beloved by his peers that dozens of them (including Lucinda Williams, the Jayhawks and Jeff Tweedy) recorded his songs on the 2013 fundraiser Songs for Slim.
But Dunlap’s own recordings remain his greatest legacy, which makes this significantly expanded two-disc reissue of his 1990s albums so rewarding. Remastered versions of 1993’s The Old New Me and 1996’s Times Like This are the anchors, capturing Slim gems such as “The Ballad of the Opening Band” and “Radio Hook Word Hit.” (Write what you know, they say — and Slim sure knew what a lifetime in rock & roll was all about.) There’s also “Girlfiend” (yes, fiend, not friend!), which Dunlap fan Bruce Springsteen recorded recently; no surprise, really, as the original always felt like a perfect fit for The Boss.
For those less familiar with Dunlap’s work, these albums provide the essential foundation, balancing bar-band rave-ups with loose acoustic tunes. But longtime friend Peter Jesperson’s illuminating liner notes contend that some of the unreleased bonus tracks are among Dunlap’s best work — especially the emotionally resonant, deeply melodic “Before She’s Gone.” Including three different unreleased versions of the song might seem like overkill, but the song’s quality warrants the choice. Jesperson also singles out the reissue’s title track, “Every Little Word,” as one of Dunlap’s finest solo-acoustic moments. That Slim could leave songs as good as these two on the cutting-room floor is a measure of just how much memorable music he left us.
