December 2024: "Riff & Repeat", "All of Me", and more....

 

Hello friends, near and far - Happy Holidays! A lot has happened in the world since our last newsletter and it looks like we're in for a hell of a ride over the next few years. But music is the only thing we know how to do well, so we'll just keep on with that, expressing ourselves as best we can through that medium.

New Single

We welcome the upcoming new year with a groovin' instrumental called "Riff & Repeat". Chromatic harmonica sets the stage playing an Adderley-esque riff, with alto sax joining in on the repeat.  Penny's on bass guitar and alto sax in addition to supplying the double bass solo while Slim's doing his usual thing with harmonica, guitar, pedal steel, keys, and drum programming. Listen or download on our website, or on any of the streaming services: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/riff-and-repeat/

"All Of Me"

In October we published another "live in the studio with looping and programmed drums"  video, this time it's that old standard "All Of Me" done instrumentally. Here it is on Youtube: https://youtu.be/6g3Bx7WrOTw

Harmonica Instrumental Playlists

Also, for harmonica enthusiasts, we've put together a playlist of 13 harmonica instrumentals we've recorded over the years. This link will take you to our page where you can listen. It also has links to the playlist on  YouTube and Spotify: https://slimandpenny.com/articles/harmonica-instrumentals

Home Grown CD

After releasing our latest album "Home Grown" online in July, we went ahead and ordered a short run of CDs for those who still spin those kind of discs. If you'd like one, please don't hesitate to reply to this email to get your copy. Of course you can still listen to it here or at any of the streaming services: https://slimandpenny.com/home-grown/

"The Ballad of Slim O. & Penny Bill"

Back in September, Utopia Unearthed Records released a remastered version of our 1980 Deuce LP to the streaming services. Extensive liner notes, photos from the recording session, lyrics, and links to listen to it are all here: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/deuce-lp/

"The Last Sunset"

For those interested in the upcoming Dan Del Santo documentary "The Last Sunset", Utopia Unearthed Records are planning for a September 2025 release. Here's their teaser trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5yw8uQmruU Also, they've now released nine of his albums to the streaming services, including several that haven't previously seen the light of day in any format (including "Los Blues Demon" -- recorded in Mexico, 19 tunes featuring only Dan and his guitars. Just search for Dan Del Santo on any of the streaming services. If you'd like to help move the documentary forward, the Utopia Unearthed's Gofundme page is here: https://gofundme.com/f/the-last-sunset-a-dan-del-santo-documentar

Finally, a reminder that all our published music, bios, and video links can be found on our website: https://SlimAndPenny.com And our completed albums can be streamed from any of the major streaming services -- just search for "Slide Man Slim & Penny Hanna". Until next time, do have a wonderful holiday and the best possible new year! Slim & Penny

July 2024 - New Album, New Video, and more...

 

Hi Folks - As we write this, a fossil fuel-driven summer has arrived along with one of the most consequential political moments in US (and world) history. But along with all the stupidity, and along with all the resulting pain and suffering, there also remains lots of love and beauty in this world and music is there to reflect and react to all of it -- the good along with the bad. And with that in mind, our new album "Home Grown" is now ready for harvesting. New Album: Home Grown

"Home Grown" is the 4th album we've released so far this century (and for us that's moving fast!). These 10 original tunes were recorded in our project studio from 2020 to 2024. They've previously appeared as singles on our website but have now been re-mixed, re-mastered and (in some cases) re-recorded allowing them to be their best possible selves. The repertoire touches on Swing, Pop, Brazilian, Classic Country and Jazz grooves while lyrical themes include Life's Third Act, Climate Change, Politics, Religion, and (of course) True Love. It's on all the major streaming services but can also be streamed from our website, where you can also see or download the liner notes with lyrics. You can also download the entire album for import into your music library if you choose. And there's no charge for any of this. We're very proud of this release and hope you get some joy from listening to it! Check it out here: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/home-grown/ or on any of the streaming platforms (partial list): Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/home-grown/1755235344 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1F252qHLNWWxXoJSN9Tra5 Amazon: https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0D8M4FHQL?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_y7pN2bGGPbHMONhtPyWn0B02o YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lkmJxpQPJJ1hosVU63yc2euXIwDR0ygx4&si=te_c_eM8OQumTgHu "The Weight" Since our last newsletter, we've posted another "Live From The Project Studio" video, in this one we tackle Robbie Robertson's "The Weight" as a harmonica instrumental with live looping and pre-programmed drums. I fell in love with The Band as soon as their "Music From Big Pink" album hit the stores back in 1968  -- went to see them live several times back then and their music has stuck with me through the years. This particular tune has been covered by many, so there are some great versions out there. My favorite (of those I've heard) is still the version from The Band's "Last Waltz" album, performed with The Staples Singers (If Mavis Staples' vocal on that cut doesn't send chills down your spine, you may not be human :-)). So, this ain't that, just our humble take on it.  - Slim You can watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/WT_pHy-1lTY?si=s4K2lJEqo6YtEDsk Blast From The Past In our last newsletter we mentioned that Nashville based Utopia Unearthed Records are (in addition to re-releasing his catalog of music) working on a documentary covering Dan Del Santo's life in music and its tragic ending. They've been interviewing family, friends, and band members and have been traveling to Poughkeepsie, Austin, and Oaxaca in order to do so. They even showed up here in Santa Cruz to film a segment with us covering our long friendship with Dan and the countless hours we spent recording him and his band in our Marble Falls, TX project studio during the 1980's. These guys are relatively young and have an obvious passion for Dan's music. When they started to dig into Dan's history, they sensed a story that had to be told and have been laser-focused on putting it all together. But, as you might suspect, they're operating on a shoe-string budget and could use some financial help. For those of you who rememberDan and would like to help this project see the light of day, please check out their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-last-sunset-a-dan-del-santo-documentary Finally, a reminder that all our published music, bios, and video links can be found on our website: https://SlimAndPenny.com And our completed albums can be streamed from any of the major streaming services -- just search for "Slide Man Slim & Penny Hanna". That's all for now... Slim & Penny

April 2023 - New Music & A Blast From The Past

 

Hi Folks - Spring is here, the solar eclipse is imminent, and we hope y'all are finding good ways to enjoy life and spread love in spite of all the anger and hurt in the world. New Music Since our December newsletter, we've released a couple of new singles on our website (listen or download at no charge). Waiting For Sleep To Come is a lullaby (of sorts), written and sung by Slim: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/waiting-for-sleep/ Penny sings and the band swings as we navigate and celebrate life's third act with Before My Light Goes Out, another tune written by Slim: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/BeforeMyLight/

Blast From The Past For those of you (lookin' at you, Austin folks) who remember Dan Del Santo and his music, there's a cool project underway by Utopia Unearthed Records(https://www.utopiaunearthed.com/) to re-release Dan's catalog (with full support of Dan's family) and they're also working on a documentary about Dan covering his life in music and its tragic end. We worked closely with Dan on several of the albums which are being newly released to the major streaming services and on vinyl. So far, Utopia Unearthed has released Life In The Big City, World Beat, and just this week My Own Country: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kKGnP9CzBHNrwrNtXsAtdSE6nLrxA5-Cg This is one of the albums we did with Dan in our Marble Falls TX project studio in 1988. It was Dan's momentary return to the country and swing genres after having recorded several albums of world music with his band The Professors of Pleasure. We both play on this one along with some major Austin talent (some of whom are on this mailing list). See the credits in the below picture from the original 1988 release. Dan's other upcoming releases recorded in our studio include the albums Make It Right, Strength To Strength, and the 45 rpm single Merci Baby, Merci &So, You Know, So Say. Look for these to appear online in the coming months. Note that the Off Your Nyash album has been on the streaming services for quite a while and isn't planned to be re-released by Utopia Unearthed. Finally, a reminder that all our published music, bios, and video links can be found on our website: https://SlimAndPenny.com And our completed albums can be streamed from any of the major streaming services -- just search for "Slide Man Slim & Penny Hanna". That's all for now... Slim & Penny

December 2023 - As 2023 Draws To A Close...

 

Holiday Greetings To All - My how time has flown since our last newsletter back in February!  While mankind continues to demonstrate its inability to cope with problems of its own making and goes full steam ahead creating new ones, we can still calm our souls and try to spread love and peace through music. So, without further ado, some music...

Video version of "If I Believed"

Penny sings our humanist love ballad along with alto sax, harmonica, and pedal steel features (background fine art selections by Penny). Watch it here: https://youtu.be/DyaTPLXcNQI

Live In The Project Studio

Below you'll find our take on Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are" as well as the Jobim classic "The Girl From Ipanema", with Penny singing the first chorus in French ("La fille d'Ipanema").

"All The Things You Are": https://youtu.be/mRk_j8gIv1I

"The Girl From Ipanema": https://youtu.be/bk0U2FBTD64

For our gear head friends...

This year I spent some time upgrading our "live" toolset with the addition of a new looper and drum box which work nicely together. This has taken some time to get right, but with these particular tools I've been able to craft my own drumsets based on my favorite samples from the many drum libraries I've been using in our studio recordings over the years. Then I custom programed the drum parts for each tune. This is all time consuming, but fun! Then, when performing the tune, I'm able to live-loop my guitar parts and have them stay perfectly in sync with the drums. - Slim Slim's latest pedal boards for harmonica, guitar, looping, and drums:

For Monterey Bay Area folks..

Penny has two Viola da Gamba gigs coming up to celebrate the new year: There's the annual Cherry Trio & Friends concert at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel, CA, which is on New Years Day at 3pm. They'll be joined this year by two other fabulous musicians on Baroque Violin and Dulcian. Then on January 5th and 6th, she'll be playing in the Pastyme Consort for the Madregalia!! concerts, also in Carmel, at All Saints' Episcopal Church.

Details for both concerts are here: https://slimandpenny.com/web/schedule/

So, how else have we been spending our time?

Penny's been busy as she continues leading the choir at the Stroke and Disability Center at Cabrillo College as well as working on the boards of both The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival and The Santa Cruz Chamber Players. Slim's been doing some outside sessions on harmonica, playing some experimental music with friends on pedal steel and we've both been working on some new studio recordings which will most likely be the subject of our next newsletter.

Finally, a reminder that all our published music, bios, and video links can be found on our website: https://SlimAndPenny.com And our completed albums can be streamed from any of the major streaming services -- just search for "Slide Man Slim & Penny Hanna". Here's to a more peaceful world in 2024, however unlikely that may be.... Slim & Penny

All our published recordings can be heard at https://slimandpenny.com/web/audio/, and our 3 CDs are on all the popular streaming services. Online version of this newsletter is here: http://slimandpenny.blogspot.com/ Subscribe/unsubscribe info is here: https://slimandpenny.com/web/connect/

February 2023 - Some Things Old, Some Things New

 

Greetings Earthlings - Since our last newsletter back in August of last year, we've published a few things: A new "live in the studio" video, a new studio recording of a new tune, a remastered old Penny Hanna album, and a video showcasing one of the songs from that album. "If I Believed" - A Humanist Love Ballad New studio recording of a tune written by Slim and sung by Penny with alto sax, harmonica, and pedal steel features. Listen or download here: https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/if-i-believed "Shake On It!" - Captured Live (with looping) In Studio

This original harmonica instrumental first appeared on our "Procrastination" album. The video version was taped last October in our project studio. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8BXSOjMPKIY "Organic Software Vol. 2 - Cruel Lottery" - Penny's 1987 politically-themed pop album remastered  Penny's songs on this album were, with a couple of exceptions, political in nature. It was 1987, Reagan was in the White House and plenty of bad stuff was happening here in the USA.  The lyrics riff on wide-ranging subjects including nuclear annihilation in "DEW Line" and "They Say, I Say", televangelist con men in "Oral Tradition" (fellow oldsters might remember Oral Roberts in the prayer tower), the never-ending racism towards African Americans in "Still Walkin'", the feminist lament "Girls Can Play", and Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars) in "Somewhere Up In Outer Space". Sadly, much of her biting commentary holds true to this day. Most of all, I hope that you'll agree that the craftsmanship in these songs, both lyrically and musically, is exceptional -- a thing of beauty. - Slim. Listen or Download (no charge) here (this page also has links to this album on the major streaming services): https://slimandpenny.com/web/articles/organic-software And for Black History Month: "Still Walkin'" - Video showcase (with lyrics) of Penny's song from the Cruel Lottery album The year was 1987 and we were on the road doing a hotel gig in Hutchinson, Kansas. One night on the local news we caught a story about Martha Woodard Rawlins, a local African American civil rights leader who had recently organized Hutchinson's first MLK Day celebration. Rawlins had awakened to find racist graffiti spray painted all over the outside of her home. Penny was outraged and channeled her anger over this into a song which we recorded and subsequently performed during a return engagement in Hutchinson. The grainy footage incorporated in this video was taken by the news crew of Wichita TV station KWCH for their follow-up on this story. https://youtu.be/9kz2JzYrbFc Peace and Love, Slim & Penny