Bob ‘Slim’ Dunlap, The Replacements guitarist has passed away at the age of 73.
The final guitarist for the legendary punk band, Bob died on Wednesday (12.18,) a dozen years after suffering a stroke that left him bedridden and unable to perform.
In a statement to The Minnesota Star Tribute newspaper, the Dunlap family said:
“Bob passed at home today at 12:48 p.m. surrounded by family.” “We played him his Live at the Turf Club (Thank You Dancers!) CD, and he left us shortly after listening to his version of ‘Hillbilly Heaven’ — quite poignant.” “It was a natural decline over the past week. Overall it was due to complications from his stroke.”
In the 1970s, Dunlap starting playing guitar as a youngster and performed locally with Curtiss A (Curt Almsted) before the pair started the band Spooks. The act caught the eye of Replacements’ Paul Westerberg, who was looking for a replacement for founding guitarist Bob Stinson.
Though Dunlap initially declined the offer, he was tempted by his admiration for Westerberg as a songwriter, and remaining with the band until they split in 1991, Dunlap joined The Replacements in 1987 and played on both the ‘Don’t Tell A Soul’ and ‘All Shook Down’ LPs.
Bob assumed on the name ‘Slim’ in order to avoid being confused with Stinson, and he was known as “the replacement Replacement” by fans.
Subsequent to his time with The Replacements, Dunlap embarked on his own solo career, releasing his first record ‘The Old New Me’ in 1993, followed by ‘Times Like This’ three years later, and continued to perform locally until a stroke ended his music career.
In order to raise funds for his recovery, in 2013 The Replacements, Steve Earle, Jeff Tweedy, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and others played on a tribute compilation ‘Songs For Slim.’
In 2020, ‘Thank You, Dancers’ – a 2002 live performance marked Bob Dunlap’s final release.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: JCHaywire