Slick & Slate Unplugged – November 1, 2018
Slick & Slate Unplugged: Playing the Songs of David Bowie, John Lennon and the Golden Age of Rock and Roll
Legendary guitarist Earl Slick and NYC songwriter Jeff Slate join us for an intimate night on the Salt Stage.
Slick, a NYC guitarist was initially hired by David Bowie to replace Mick Ronson as lead guitarist for the Diamond Dogs tour in 1974 (the live album David Live was recorded during this tour). Slick also played lead guitar on Bowie’s Young Americans and Station to Station albums, released in 1975 and 1976 respectively. . Slick was also working in the studio with former Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono, but also formed his own solo band, releasing both Razor-Sharp and Earl Slick Band in 1976. Slick performed on Lennon and Ono’s Double Fantasy. During the sessions for Double Fantasy, the material for 1984’s Milk and Honey was recorded as well. Slick also joined Ono in the studio for her solo album, Season of Glass. In 1983, Slick rejoined David Bowie’s touring band for the Serious Moonlight Tour, which supported the Let’s Dance album. The early 2000s saw Slick return to Bowie’s roster, appearing on the studio albums Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003). Slick toured with Bowie in support of those albums as well and performed on the Bowie DVD and double CD A Reality Tour. Working with producer Mark Plati Slick released a solo album, Zig Zag, which featured guest performances by David Bowie, Robert Smith, Joe Elliott, Royston Langdon and Martha Davis of The Motels. On February 11, 2011, UK-based Noble PR announced Slick had joined the New York Dolls for their March UK tour. New York Dolls’ rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain confirmed the report, “We made some calls and now we finally have got Earl Slick playing guitar. So Earl’s going to be joining us for the upcoming tour. He’s the newest member of the New York Dolls if I can put that right now.”In January 2013 he contributed on guitar for David Bowie on his penultimate album, The Next Day. In February 2016, he performed a tribute to Bowie at the Brit Awards with Bowie’s Reality touring band and the New Zealand singer, Lorde.
Singer-songwriter Jeff Slate is an internationally recognized recording artist and music journalist. He co-founded the band the Mindless Thinkers in the 1980s, founded The Badge in the 90s, and has performed and worked with countless other rock luminaries, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Sheryl Crow, and others. His band with David Bowie sideman Earl Slick, and his current band Jeff Slate & Friends are both mainstays of the Northeast music scene. As a solo performer he has played all over the world, from St. George’s Hall in Liverpool to Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. He plays vintage Gibson and Epiphone electric and acoustic guitars, Hofner basses and uses Vox amplifiers.
Jeff’s music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for the Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and many other publications, contributed liner notes to the 50th-anniversary edition of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography of the legend, with Orbison’s sons. In 2018, Jeff wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks.