Playbill: Hilary Sloan

By William Michael Smith Wed., Mar. 7 2007 at 9:50 AM

Like her sister Miss Leslie of The Juke Jointers, Hilary Sloan was raised on hardcore country and has never really been tempted by much else. Childhood lessons as a bluegrass fiddler — bluegrass ran in the family — have made Sloan an in-demand session player and instrumentalist-for-hire around here for years. At times she has fronted her own country band, Aunt Irma's Filling Station, who played everywhere from the Continental to Dan Electro's and released one album of old school country in 2005. While the record didn't make much headway in the marketplace, it contained a handful of solid Sloan originals like "I Wish I Was a Highway" and "The Darker Side of Life" that proved her country music bona fides are beyond suspicion. Sloan will be joined in these happy hour excursions by local underground picker-writer Leslie Newman. He's one of those guys whose face you'll recognize but whose name you won't know. He's played all over town for years, especially around the Dan Electro's musical collective. - William Michael Smith