Flatlanders C/D Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock S/D

Josh, wow, that is nuts -- yeah dude totally did not see you! I even hund around a bit at the merch table afterward. Never seen any of these dudes, to be honest. Was always kicking myself that I was too lazy to make it out to their free show at the "Country Fest" in Grant Park a couple years back, so I was happy to correct that error

Did you see Brad Paisley at Wrigley? That dude is pretty much the best contemporary Tele player I can think of.

I did not catch that show, no, but it sounded like it was pretty good! you go? you going to either of the Springsteens there? One of these days we need to actually meet up before a show?

Saw Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock tonight in a round-robin show with Fred Eaglesmith. All terrific.

Sounds great. Have not seen 'em in awhile.

Gilmore’s “Where You Going” came up on shuffle and from the intro I was sure it was some Richard Thompson epic guitar jam that I couldn’t place. Great song.

He/s been (still)touring with Dave Alvin, and they have an album coming:
https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/dave-alvin-jimmie-dale-gilmore-prep-collaborative-lp-w517113

Flatlanders has been a massive blind spot for me. I'm kinda astounded that, though I've heard them mentioned over the years, I've never consciously heard them until recently. That 1972 material just hits so many spots for me. Loose singing and playing, singin' saw, light (and sometimes heavy) cosmic touches, an out-of-time feel. I feel it's got to have been hugely influential, and yet it seems underrated compared to some of the contemporaneous stuff in the same vein? Is it because they were barely a band?

More a legend, IIRC.

There’s something really special about the 1972 material. I picked up one of the reunion-era CDs for a buck last week but I haven’t been courageous enough to listen to it.

Love Jimmie Dale’s solo stuff, too. Buddhist honky-tonk is a v underrated genre.

Who are the other practitioners?

Willie Nelson is into reincarnation, if that counts. His "Still Is Still Moving To Me" might too. I dunno shit about it, sorry, never mind. Gilmore's album w Dave Alvin, from early '18, is pretty cool, as talked about here: TS: Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?
Hancock's original solo albums mostly came out on his Rainlight label, and could be pretty hard to find (haven't looked for them in quite a while), but Own and Own and Own The Way Over Here are compilations of Rainlight tracks reissued on other labels which I found pretty easily (a long time ago). Also he and Gilmore have a live album, and he's on the later Flatlanders albums of course.
My fave Ely is Live Shots, from the Clash tour, but he and Jimmie D. are so dang prolific that it makes me tired to think about it--whatever you come across by any of these guys is worth checking out, especially if you can do it for free online (I know, that's what she said).

Been listening to Gilmore's music. I've only given it a cursory listen before, but I'm really digging it. This track is beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD2w3-Bus9s

And I wish Johnny Cash had covered this too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ8PlwJarNw

A great live version of The Mobile Line from the early 90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_obLJjdHPno

i didn't quite get if the trail of prev. unreleased titles, from several sessions over the years, were re-recorded, as-is, or some of both, on 2021's Treasure of Love round-up. Some of it sounded pretty geezer-y at first, like maybe recent re-dos. But real good material, and just about all the tracks locked into enjoyable listening after a couple of spins.

Also, the sometimes arty adventures of Joe Ely's 2020 Love In The Midst of Mayhem grew on me quite a bit.

xxp nice, thanks for sharing that!

I'll have to dive into the Flatlanders and the other solo albums next, this is all still new territory for me.

I played After Awhile a few times today and I love that one even more - one of the very best country albums I've heard from the past 40 years.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51XQ9GAQHRL.jpg

They're all pretty good, but Ely might have the most rocking output.

Rocking is not necessarily what I want from the Flatlanders etc. But I do like some Joe Ely

I mostly meant that it sets him apart. He's kind of the most conventional.

Makes sense … Honky Tonk Masquerade is excellent.

Well, solo Ely was originally known for his own blend of country and rock, but not like the Eagles, not that much like anybody else known for "country rock", maybe a little, in terms of mavericky spaces, like Gramp Parsons (who hated the c-r tag and loathed the Eagles). Much appreciated in the 70s, lemme tell you, especially after Parsons died so early, and I believe the s/t debut was later on a twofer CD with the aforementioned Honky Tonk Masquerade---that would be 80 minutes worth spending--album three, 1979'sDown On The Drag, is ok, but next, one my all-time favorites is the 1980 Live Cuts, from his Clash tour, with Lloyd Maines as one-man steel guitar army, among other points of interest---no new material, but great delivery of some of Butch Hancock's best contributions, always a staple of early Ely.
I dunno about 80s output---seemed to be trying a new, rockin' 80s sound of this own, w v. mixed results, but Lord of the Highway is OK and '92's Love and Danger had him back in the saddle, more to the country side, but no Butch.
Best of Joe Ely(2001), would make a pretty damn good gateway.
Some people have no use for Butch's voice, but never bothered me---also he does have all those what ya call 'em songs ffs---and his comps Own and Own and Own The Way Over Here are real good places to start, for the ones that Joe didn't cover, at least.
Yeah, Jimmie Dale's s/t debut, "After Awhile" and cosmic Spinning Around the Sun are best solo albums of his that I've heard---a friend likes his live album with Butch, from an Australian tour, but I haven't heard it.
in 2018, he did quite a fine duet album w Dave Alvin, streaming here:
https://davealvin.bandcamp.com/album/downey-to-lubbock
More A Legend Than A Band is still the essential Flatlanders album, although there was some dissenting hype when the preceding Odessa Tapes were finally retrieved and released---they're worth hearing, but def not better. Ditto the 2000s Flatlanders reunions I've heard, Now Again and Hills and Valleys, wearing their ages pretty well.

Oh yeah, and Jimmie Dale's high school sweetheart-> wife, Jo Carol Pierce, is like the profane Laurie Anderson of Texas on Bad Girls Upset By The Truth.
She and Ely and Butch,and the other Hancock, Wayne, and Robert Earl Keen and Terry Allen contribute to Songs From Chippy, which is Jo Harvey Allen's play based on The Chippy Diaries, written by a lumber industry sex veteran.

a friend likes his live album with Butch, from an Australian tour

That would be Two Roads and it’s fun. A highlight is the rendition of West Texas Waltz.

Ah, this one kills me....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5-KHKwywAU

It sounds like something Johnny Cash & June Carter would've done together back in the day. Beautiful, beautiful song, and I heard Joe Ely's version too but Gilmore just knocks it out of the park.

"Just A Wave" was the one that first struck me when my sister would play JDG, that album's become an all time fave. "I'm Gonna Love You" might be where the beauty & clarity of his voice most overwhelms me ...just thinking about it

last year's Flatlanders album was pretty good, I thought

Wait, what?

Oh, I see.

Flatlanders in that unique club of bands with more reunion albums than original tenure LPs.

How do they stack up against Rocket From the Tombs? Or Television?

Oh Television only had the one new studio album.

Yeah, while RFTT was one album (comp) --> three reunion lps, the Flatlanders have one album (released post-breakup) --> four reunion lps.

I mentioned The Odessa Tapes, which were eventually excavated and released in 2012, on on New West, which sez: After being forgotten about and stored for decades in the bass player’s closet, the remixed and remastered 14 songs are undeniably bright, immediate and magical. Many are familiar with these song titles from their 1972 Plantation debut recorded in Nashville but these earlier recordings eschew the polished production and bristle with innocence and the energy that is pure Texas.

New West Records along with The Flatlanders have overseen the restoration, research and release of their true debut album. Recorded in 1972 in Tommy Allsup’s Odessa, TX studio, the band put 14 songs to 3-track tape. Four of these recordings (*) have never been available on any Flatlanders album. Nah, it's not "their true debut album": even polished, still sounds like---tapes, non-magical, de facto demos for what, as the Austin Chroncle observed, is more like " a shelved Jimmie Dale Gilmore album" than a long lost Flatlanders 8 track (though the official debut, which was an 8-track only, I think, was initially listed under Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Flatlandes, and how could he not be the lead singer, whatever the billing?)
Very nice, and you do get four prev. unreleased titles.
From my Nashville Scene ballot comments re 2012 releases:
The Flatlanders, The Odessa Tapes: 14 tracks (my Windows Media Player picks up sometimes distracting noise around the edges; boombox makes the audio sound perfect), recorded in Odessa TX, before the Nashville sessions, which were eventually released as More A Legend Than A Band, among other titles. The very useful booklet's author, Michael Ventura, thinks that these tapes (mostly same songs as More…) are better, because they don't the later set's "self-conscious Bob Willsian asides." Can't find my copy of that, so no comparative listening yet, but Ely, Hancock and/or Tony Pearson's occasional background harmonies always perk up the attention span here. Gilmore doesn't bend notes, syllables and keys with his nose yet, so there's a certain sameness and smoothness to the pudding-stirring sweetness. But sweetness and buoyancy--not too far above the ground, while they're discreetly extending some craft---and intimacy all are crucial ingredients here, as Ventura points out. The slightly lecture-y bits are never hectoring, the Flatlanders want to just to make love make sense to you, so it'll make sense to them, so the imagery times plain--for-serenades seek dialogue, seek truth in peeling and appealing veils, in balancing acts, even or especially those which might be seized on in sleight of hand---they want to understand, man. And woman, oh yes, and oh Lord too. They also know when to move on. Two previously unreleased songs by Gilmore, two by Hancock, all worth checking out; ditto a DVD interview with Gilmore, Hancock and Ely.
It's on YouTube, Spotify etc.

Man I really love Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s Cliff Edwards style of crooning. Cliff Edwards? Hey wait, Jiminy Cricket!

I've wondered why Gilmore's 2000 One Endless Night isn't on streaming services.

Good question

Cliff Edwards? Ukekele Ike!

Flatlanders classic for all time.

Have totally imagined JDG singing “Hard Hearted Hannah.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyHPb4MNHbU

i just put it together that JDG plays smokey in "the big lebowski" ...

^ha!

Missed the chance to say I was going to mark you a zero for that.

At some point I was getting certain scenes in The Big Lebowski mixed up with others in Kingpin and couldn’t remember who was in which.

Kind of amusing to me that I can imagine what Jimmie Dale Gilmore would sound like singing, say, “Saginaw, Michigan” and then I actually hear him do it and it sounds just like I imagined and even more so. So good.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2022/12/08/jo-carol-pierce-austin-death-obituary-wellington-jimmie-dale-gilmore-bad-girls/69703288007/

Aw man, she was great. A Flatlander at heart and then some.

Oh yeah, and Jimmie Dale's high school sweetheart-> wife, Jo Carol Pierce, is like the profane Laurie Anderson of Texas on Bad Girls Upset By The Truth.
She and Ely and Butch,and the other Hancock, Wayne, and Robert Earl Keen and Terry Allen contribute to Songs From Chippy, which is Jo Harvey Allen's play based on The Chippy Diaries, written by a lumber industry sex veteran.

― dow, Monday, 7 February 2022

Reading this ^^ led me to look up more about this musical, Chippy. What a lineup of songs:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chippy_(album)

I used to have and enjoy that album of other people doing her songs called Across the Great Divide. Also saw her perform once and she was grebt.

Still in search of her song about Jerry Lee. I distinctly remember her singing
“He’ll
Leave you
Breathless!”
whilst making a self-choking motion along with accompanying sounds.

Mentioned here, along with some other stuff I remember:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-03-23-9303230097-story.html

For out-of-towners, Pierce was the event's central revelation. Pierce's orange cocktail dress and zebra-stripe stockings are nearly as loopy as some of her songs. She delivered some of the week's sharpest rock criticism in a hilarious and biting ditty about Jerry Lee Lewis and his string of ex-wives.