Friday, July 29, 1994 The News-Journal-Daytona Beach, Florida "Daytona Beach-- One of Italy's latest imports? Some good ol' American swamp blues, courtesy of Florida bluesman Gene "Sarasota Slim" Hardage. He's released his third album, "Hungry Man,"...on the Appaloosa label of Milano, Italy."
Friday, February 4, 1994-The Gainesville Sun- "Slim himself (his real name is Gene Hardage) is a blistering guitarist; his hot-blooded slide work can raise the hair on the back of your neck." Bill DeYoung
Saturday, January 15, 1994 St. Petersburg Times "Making albums, after you have been doing them for a while, tends to improve "by degrees," says Sarasota Slim. Especially when you are already one of the best guitarists; when you're that good it's tough to get better. So the most distinguishing aspect about this latest album, Hungry Man, is what he does, rather than how well he does it. ... Over the course of his career, the fleet-fingered Slim has established himself as one of the bay area's most eloquent blues players. This is his third album on the Rounder - distributed Appaloosa label. ... Like many blues guitarists, Slim was heavily influenced by the late Albert King , and one can hear a trace of the late blues great in Slim's vocals (as well as on his version of Deadric Malone's As The Years Go Passing By). But, as Slim says, he gets into a few different bags on this release. "I've been lucky to have worked with a lot of gifted players through the years," said Slim, who has been playing professionally since he was 20. "I like to think that I find whatever they are strong in, and lean in that direction." " Tony Green
Thursday, May 20, 1993 "The leader of the band playing at Kaffeklatch Bar tonight is just about ready to quit calling his a blues band. Sarasota Slim's namesake said his band played the blues when blues wasn't cool Now that everyone else wants to call their music blues, he's looking for a diffrent style." Mike Kaylor
Friday, May 14, 1993 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer "You can call him Sarasota Slim. Or you can call him Gene Hardage. Or you can call him Slim. Or you can call him Gene. He answers to any of those. His real name is Gene Hardage. His stage name is Sarasota Slim. He's from Sarasota and he is, indeed, slim."
Thursday, April 22, 1993 News Chief-Winter Haven, Florida "bending crying notes in a gritty Florida blues fashion comes from soul of one "slim" Southern boy."
Friday, March 13, 1992 The Bradenton Herald, Weekend "Sarasota Slim's latest album, Living In My Suitcase should be living in your blues collection." Jay Kirshenmann
Friday, January 17, 1992 Friday Extra! The Tampa Tribune "Slim shows that his nickname is only physical: If measured by the weight of his bluesy bright ideas, he's as hefty as a northbound grapefruit truck. Bob Ross
Friday, June 21, 1991 Time Out - Lakeland Ledger "It's the music on "Bourbon to Beale," however, which tells who slim actually is. The tall, thin guitarist dishes up original tunes like the title cut and "Tin Pan Alley," along with tasty, hot to cool licks that blend like a stew of Duane Allman and Johnny Winter topped off with a dash of B.B. King."
Friday, April 26, 1991 St. Petersburg Times "Crack session men and down home vocals give Bourbon to Beale its backbone, but it is Hardage's astonishingly lucid attacks on the fretboard that give this material its heart." Jeff Jacks
October 18, 1990 Players "Few Bay area musicians are as deserving of the title "bluesman" as Gene Hardage, a/k/a Sarasota Slim. On his new release, Bourbon To Beale, Slim doesn't just play the blues, he delivers the down-home feeling that's always been at the heart of the music - when it's played right. And Slim plays it right. Ken Hall
Friday, March 16, 1990 Star Time - Fort Worth Star-Telegram " ... a Florida outfit that mixes Chicago-style with Delta - and Allman Brothers - style slide guitars ... Sarasota Slim, who with his long, wispy blonde hair looks like Duane Allman even more than he sometimes sounds like him ... Slim's sound is a fine, bracing gumbo of Otis Rush, Stevie Ray, Johnny Winter (especially in the vocals) and early Allman Brothers. If that sounds like too many cooks stirring the broth, it doesn't translate that way on stage. Slim's tone is nice and fat like Rush's, and his slide work as much of hte bite and control Allman was known for." Dave Ferman
Saturday, October 7, 1989 St. Petersburg Times "During an eye-opening half-hour, Slim (Gene Hardage) showed that he is one great blues guitarist. If there were no Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slim would be it. He mixes fluid phrases, slippery chords and crying bent notes into his seamless solos. He takes the standard lexicon of blues lines and licks and punches it up with swaggering technique." Eric Snider
Friday, January 1, 1988 Scene Magazine-The Gainesville Sun "Back to the blues for a moment: Sarasota Slim and the Blue Gills, featuring guitarist Gene Hardage, will plug in at Richenbacher's Jan. 8 and 9. The band's blues, which is said to recall the early Allman Brothers Band, is the talk of the nightclub crowds in - you guessed it - Sarasota, where Hardage is from and the Gills are based."
Friday, December 11, 1987 The News & Courier, Charleston, S.C. Sarasota Slim and the Blue Gills play the blues - the Florida blues. You know, the music culled from the atmosphere and ambience permeating the Allman Brothers Band's early days in the Sunshine State ... The group relies heavily on organ, piano and guitar to showcase a gritty blues sound ... Hardage is an excellent slide guitarist. He's fashioned a homemade pickup for his dobro that gives him the biting sustain slide players seek ... So be it B.B. King or Albert King, Sarasota Slim plays the blues with passion and pride, carrying on a tradition that the world now recognizes as an integral part of a distinctly American tradition." Willard Strong
Sunday, May 22, 1983 The Bradenton Herald "After recently parting company with Gregg Allman's band, Essery decided to form his own band. He recruited Mark "The Rev. Boneshaker" Bowne, bass, formerly with Nick Danger and the Heat; Gene Hardage of Sarasota, guitar, Delta-style slide player and vocalist with a firm Blues background" Christi Villalobos