Bob “Slim” Dunlap, the beloved “replacement Replacement” who joined the band in 1987, has died at the age of 73.
The musician’s family confirmed his death in a statement, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. “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,” read the statement. “It was a natural decline over the past week. Overall it was due to complications from his stroke.”
In 2012, Dunlap, who played guitar with the Replacements from 1987 to 1991, suffered a severe stroke. A key part to stabilizing the band after the departure of founding guitarist Bob Stinson, Dunlap featured on the group’s last two albums, 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul and All Shook Down, released the following year. During this time, Dunlap grew into a beloved figure in the Minnesota music scene.
After the band split up in 1991, Dunlap released two solo albums. His first, The Old New Me, debuted in 1993 with Twin/Tone, the Minneapolis label behind the early Replacements albums. He released live album Thank You Dancers! in 2020, featuring music he recorded at St. Paul’s Turf Club in 2002.
Bruce Springsteen praised Dunlap’s work in a 2014 interview with NPR’s Ann Powers. “Slim Dunlap is fantastic. He was a part of The Replacements and he made two fabulous rock records that were just really, deeply soulful and beautiful,” said the Boss. “I hope I get a chance to cut one of his songs because he’s, it’s just, this stuff, check out the two Slim Dunlap records because they’re just so beautiful, they’re just beautiful rock ‘n’ roll records. I found them to be deeply touching and emotional.”
Dunlap’s stroke in 2012 left the artist paralyzed. The year after, the Replacements reunited to release Songs for Slim, a five-song benefit EP for the guitarist. At the time, it was the group’s first new recording in 23 years, and included two of Dunlap’s songs, with sales going toward raising money for their former bandmate’s medical care.
“He’s been in and out of the hospital maybe 40 times,” the band’s frontman Paul Westerberg later told Rolling Stone. “We were talking to Slim when he was in the hospital,” Westerberg said. “And I was like, ‘Should we play?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, play.’”