James ‘Slim’ Hand was born in Waco, Texas in 1952. He released six albums of honky tonk country tunes from 1997 to his death in 2020.
Although a relatively unknown artist, Willie Nelson called Hand “the real deal”; Kris Kristofferson described his songs as “soul music.”
English troubadour Ags Connolly is another devoted admirer and was hooked after first seeing Hand perform live at the Borderline in London in 2006 and says“If I didn’t know I was country, then that made up my mind.”
He wrote in a song about this epiphany moment for his 2014 album ‘How About Now’ entitled ‘I Saw James Hand’.
On ‘Your Pal Slim’ he pays further tribute to of his musical hero by channelling the man’s hillbilly spirit into eleven cover songs. There is one bonus song of Connolly's own: Corner Of My Street which he dreamed of recording with Hand.
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Connolly used English musicians for the project but also recruited key performers from James Hand’s career to complete the instrumentation, namely Chris McElrath (guitar),Jake Penrod (pedal steel), Beth Chrisman (fiddle) and Brennen Leigh, (mandolin). Leigh also adds backing vocals on Men Like Me Can Fly.
I am no Honky Tonk aficionado but there’s an unmistakable authenticity and sprightly energy to this labour of love that will surely appeal to fans of the genre.
Ags Connolly’s website
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