Slim Town Singles

I have a single coming out tomorrow!! That’s something I’ve never said before and it’s pretty exciting. The band came together to work on our first recording since the CD ‘Before I Forget’. We recorded a song I wrote in honor and support of Slim Dunlap. Whatever you decide to pay for a download will go to Slim’s care.

The first time I heard Slim play live was at Dan Israel’s cd release party a few years back. I had heard of Slim and of course The Replacements but had a severe, somewhat embarrassing lack of knowledge about him and his songs. At least I grew up in London, so that’s some kind of excuse!  The fun upside to that was what a delightful discovery I had in him. Sitting in the Aster Cafe hearing ‘The Ballad of the opening band’ for the first time made me smile so wide I could feel it in my tastebuds!! He also sang ‘Hate this town’ and even though both songs were new to me I felt like I had lived them and loved them forever! 

I had a wonderful opportunity to perform at Slim’s 60th birthday party. I was there to sing backup with The Mad Ripple and was really just grateful to be involved with such a great lineup. The highlight of the day was seeing Bob’s reaction and wonderful performance with his old band. I know it was a labor of love for everyone there that day and it’s one of my fondest music memories. Another fond highlight was sitting and getting to play next to Slim at the Guthrie Hoot.

The song I wrote ‘Loving You’ was inspired by not only Slim and his family but also the community that sprang up in response to his stroke. I was touched by the outpouring of support and love that I witnessed in those early days and it seemed to me a reflection of what he and Chrissie have consistently put out into the community. Watching the number of people climb higher every day on social media supporting them and wishing them well was a beautiful thing and although facebook can be a strange thing I really saw this as a shining example of how we can use media to communicate and contribute in a meaningful way.

I hope you like the song. I am really grateful to Clay Williams for not only playing guitar on it but for recording and producing it. His support and guidance are beyond meaningful to me. Thank you to Simon Husbands for not only being one of my best friends but one of the most talented people I know. I can’t imagine a better singing partner, and to Chris McAtee and Reed Pagel for joining in the madness and helping me live my dream of having a band. Special thanks as always to Paul Odegaard for lending his “Voice” the most stylish of trumpet stylings!!

Naked videos….. (Gig tomorrow night)

It seems like everyone makes naked videos these days to get their 15 minutes of fame. My video is actually a fun 20 minute ‘Naked Songwriter’ YouTube video that I was invited to do by DEMO. You can read all about them from this lovely article that was just posted by The Currant Blog;

The Naked Songwriter (Not literally)

Steve McClellan was an early supporter of mine and he doesn’t even remember a nice email he sent me years ago about my old band The Camdens, we played the Entry and he said it sounded great. That meant a lot to a 20 something playing one of the most famous stages in town!!

I will always be glad that he was the guy to book my CD release party and that was truly one of the highlights of my gigging career.

So if you have 20 mins or so and want to hear some back story to a few of my songs then here it is;

Katy Vernon (The Naked Songwriter Series)

Fun stuff!!

Tomorrow night, January 11th is my first full band show of the year.

Lee’s Liquor lounge. 101 Glenwood Ave. N., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403

Katy Vernon Music and jillian rae music will be the perfect bookends for the release show for The Changeups!! Come early and stay late for this incredible lineup. Ladies Night Special Show!!

Jillian Rae Band 9:30-10:15,
The Changeups 10:30-11:15,
Katy Vernon Band 11:30-12:30.

Hope to see some of you there.

Katy x

Next week is the launch of the Second Tuesdays at the Amsterdam and then Friday, January 17th the Trio play at the Tavern in Northfield (I LOVE Northfield!!)