Bob “Slim” Dunlap, the Replacements’ former guitarist and a solo artist in his personal proper, died on Wednesday, December 18, The Minnesota Star Tribune stories. Dunlap’s household stated, in an announcement, that the musician died of issues from the extreme stroke he had in 2012. The household additionally stated he was listening to the Slim Dunlap Band’s Stay on the Turf Membership (Thank You, Dancers!) on the time of his demise. Dunlap was 73 years outdated.
In 1987, proper after the discharge of Happy to Meet Me, Dunlap joined the Replacements to fill in for Bob Stinson, the band’s unique guitarist who was kicked out the 12 months prior for spiraling habits. In comparison with Stinson’s extra wild type, Dunlap performed with a mild, thought-about strategy to the guitar, which not solely added depth to the band’s uptempo numbers, but in addition introduced wistful introspection to their quieter songs. He was versatile, bluesy, and dependent—three traits that may affect the Replacements final two studio albums, 1989’s Don’t Inform a Soul and 1991’s All Shook Down. Wanting again, singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson credited Dunlap for bringing a spark of creativity and vitality to the band throughout that closing run.
Born August 14, 1951, Dunlap grew up in Plainview, Minnesota, and frequently performed music within the space. Whereas juggling a myriad of jobs to assist his household, together with stints as a taxi driver and a janitor on the legendary Minneapolis venue First Avenue, he performed in a number of bands with native staple Curtiss A and crammed in for quite a few Twin Cities tasks. “I performed in each little band I might play in, each band that may have me,” he later advised the Los Angeles Occasions. “Slowly however certainly, I acquired this fame as a man who might play something. One night time you’d see me play bluegrass in a little bit pizza store, the following night time it could be exhausting rock.”
After the Replacements broke up in 1991, Dunlap toured with the Georgia Satellites’ Dan Baird and, on his personal time, began penning solo materials. He formally made his debut as a singer-songwriter in 1993 with The Outdated New Me, his first solo full-length. He channeled his love of bluesy rock’n’roll into unique songs that felt timeless and earnest, and returned to the drafting board as soon as extra for his sophomore album, Occasions Like This, in 1996.