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

My dad loves this album, got it for him as a Xmas gift.

Edsel has the first four Joe Ely albums compiled on two separate CDs - totally
worth it; add in the "Live Shots" domestic CD and it's all the Ely you really
need.

Generally, the early the Jimmie Dale Gilmore release, the more like the
Flatlanders. Some of his material is a bit overproduced for me, but live he's
always great and there's little faulting the compositions. I love "After Awhile"
the most.

Check out Butch Hancock and a good early Townes Van Zandt release, as
these are pretty Flatlanders-ish in many ways.

So far, the Terry Allen thing is interesting. One of the songs sounds like Robert Wyatt in Texas, which is pretty cool actually.

Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?
Well Dallas is a jewel, oh yeah, Dallas is a beautiful sight.
And Dallas is a jungle but Dallas gives a beautiful light.
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?

Well, Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you're down.
But when you are up, she's the kind you want to take around.
But Dallas ain't a woman to help you get your feet on the ground.
And Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you're down.

Well, I came into Dallas with the bright lights on my mind,
But I came into Dallas with a dollar and a dime.

Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eye.
A steel and concrete soul with a warm hearted love disguise.
A rich man who tends to believe in his own lies.
Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes.

That's a good 'un.

But I came into Dallas with a dollar and a dime.
An uncharitable friend of mine once said "Jimmie Dale Gilmore is the dollar and Joe Ely is the dime."

looool

I love that first album so much, & think about that song every time I fly into Dallas. "Bhagavan Decreed" is such a clunky concept but it rolls, & makes sense in a dazed stoner kinda way.

Man, they just played this big stupid "Roots n Blues n BBQ" fest in my town this weekend but I couldn't be bothered to pay for it or fight the crowd. Kinda bummed.

they were so much fun last night. so much fun. beautiful stuff.

You were there, too? Which show? I went to the early one.

Love these guys. So chill. Like old bros playing a house party.

Josh, yeah! I was at the early show. It was so much fun. I sat at "Table Y", which is in the back, but of course anyplace at the Old Town isn't far away at all. I just love the camaraderie of the guys, it's like being invited to their shared how to listen to them play around. So many good stories. I do kind of wish they would do "Dallas" in its original version, instead of the rocked-up one they do now, but minor quibbles. It was my first time seeing them, actually, and I guess I never quite realized just how strong a guitar player Ely is. Of course the star was really their sideman on the tele. There is nothing, I mean nothing, in this world that is as wonderful as the sound of a strong player on a tele. that guy was great. But god Jimmie Dale's voice is so pretty, too. Really wonder why I don't listen to that guy more often

where did you seat? I was actually half-way tempted to stick around and pay for the late show too, but, you know, finances...

bah, "shared how" (WTF?) should have read "shared house"

I am totally baffled that you didn't see me. I was probably 10 feet away from you.

Have you seen Ely solo lately? His guitar player is killer.

Different era, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeGI__MK4y4

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.

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.

finally saw Jimmie Dale live last night! just melted when he started singing

How’s he doing? I saw him pre-covid with Butch Hancock and he seemed wobbly and a little lost.

Voice was still good though.

He seemed very well, I didn't notice anything like that. Dave Alvin was doing most of the talking and they alternated lead vocals, but JDG told charming stories about a couple songs. And yeah voice was amazing, I was even surprised how high he went for "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (esp. like 90+ minutes into the show). If anything his guitar playing was pretty muted, given the rest of the band carrying things.

That's good to hear.

"Just A Wave, Not The Water" is all time great.

Ugh, I really wanted to see them when they were in NYC but tickets sold out months ago. (Felt even worse when they added Jon Langford and Sally Timms as openers.)

where are you seeing the tour info?

https://www.davealvin.net/tour

They're coming back to NYC but it's not a full-fledged concert, it's a talk with performances

thanks

Their new 'un is here: https://davealvin.bandcamp.com/album/texicali Ditto From Downey To Lubbock, which is wine fine.

I like the slow songs on the 2 Alvin w/ Gilmore albums better than the blues rock and folk rock uptempo ones. I was out of town when they played near me with Jon Langford and his latest band opening. Langford designed the Texicali album cover for Alvin and Gilmore .

They played most of the new album the other night, good stuff. Gilmore said he wrote "Trying to Be Free" in the 60s and recorded it with money loaned to him by Buddy Holly's parents (!), then forgot about it til stumbling upon the tape recently.

When I was in Ft Worth this spring, I saw a dude with a “Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes” shirt.

Listened to "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me" last night in honor of Joe Ely.

i will peruse this thread when i have a chance but anyone wanna give a quick S/D on Ely?

Maybe start with Live Shots? Or the first couple of solo albums, self-titled and Honky Tonk Masquerade? His catalog is pretty solid, and if you like those first couple you will probably like all of them.

More Joe Ely on this thread:

Joe Ely - Honky Tonk Masquerade

No Dep:

...Joe Ely has passed away...at age 78 due to complications of Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s, and pneumonia. Back in February, No Depression co-founder Peter Blackstock interviewed The Flatlanders member and progressive country
star, and we're resharing the piece in his honor today.

Yeah, good interview re Love and Freedom, Joe's latest collection or previously unreleased tracks, hopefully not the last:
https://nodepression.org/joe-ely-digs-into-his-archives-for-songs-of-love-and-freedom/?ref=tuesday-roundup-newsletter

xpost yeah, Live Shots is a great place to start: Lloyd Maines' one-man steel guitar army never gets in the way of songwriters' detail, incl. great covers of Butch Hancock.

Listening now---so far, so good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3bDZp585Dg

listened to the Flatlanders record today in his honor. i have trouble connecting with Ely's solo work but will give it another shot at some point

I have never gotten that far into his own compositions myself, but enjoy him plenty as a singer and performer.

New one, from stash of tracks recorded over quite a few years, is refreshingly sung and played, with Lloyd Maines doing some more polishing, and Ely provides continuity, as writer, interpreter of well-chosen covers, and compiler of well-sequenced tracks. He does a Guy Clark show-stopper that Clark never released, also "Deportee," "Waitin' Around To Die," and "For The Sake of the Song," another TVZ, which goes with several (sometimes Dylan-y) originals re pushing and twisting verbosity into agreeably melodic word-balloons, though as w some previous Joe of recent decades, I had to listen a couple times to get into some of those. Hope there's more.

(Also like the Hispanic elements, and that he knows not to push his luck with 'em.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayvvis27xtk

Ray Wylie Hubbard from FB:

so I'll try again..I've tried a couple of times to write about Joe Ely but I get tore up and stop.

lemme try again.

we first met in red river in 1968 or 69. I'd seen Joe walking down the street and knew who he was. I invited hime to a jam at these people's house that night.

so we at these old people's house and were trading songs. Joe started singing 'when you're lost in the rain in Juarez and its easter time too..' about three verses in, the wife of the house we were playing in went nuts and shouted, "stop! get out! you can't sing some dirty song in my house!" it was really weird. Joe put down the guitar and walked to the door. he stopped, turned around and sang, "they'll stone when you're trying to be so good.." everyone just froze. Joe walked out and I ran after him saying, "hey, man. I didn't know she was was gonna freak out. I'm so sorry."
he stopped at the street and said, "forget it. I kinda dug it."

I knew at that moment I was standing in the presence of the coolest cat ever to walk upon the planet.

there's a Buddhists term I read about once..bodisattva. its means a compassionate being who has attained enlightenment and dedicates their lives to benefit others. I don't know if Joe was a buddhist or not but he was compassionate and caring and nice and rocked like no one else and when he was on a stage he benefited every being in the room and his songs were ripped from his very soul.

every time I got to hang with Joe or see him perform, it was, as old hippies say.."mindblowing."
it really was.

Judy, Lucas and I went over to Joe and Sharon house in Taos last summer and sang some songs for him and he grabbed his old j45 where the seashells had been glued on at one time and sang "I keep my fingernails long so they click when I play the piano.."

they are certain moments in time more powerful than others, like the birth of a child or getting married or falling in love..well, that was one of them.

grief is a most horrible thing. I wish Sharon and Marie comfort during this time.
maybe a consoling thought I might throw out:

during the whole history of the world from whether it was made in 6 days by God or the Big Bang explosion thing happened and after a few million years fish crawled out of the water and grew legs and the evolution thing happened..well no matter which, since the beginning of all this and all the millions and millions of people that have been on this planet while circling the sun in this universe..to be here while Joe Ely was on it, well, damn. no matter what you believe..we were indeed fortunate.

Speaking, Ian Moore (who I forgot had apprenticed in Ely's band in the Love & Danger era) has been sharing a lot of good stories over on his page.

More from FB:

“Hi folks, Lloyd Maines here. I have so much more to say about Joe Ely, but for now, I’ll just keep it as concise as I can.
I don’t do social media, so my friend Terri Hendrix has agreed to post it for me.

“My Friend Joe

“I met Joe Ely in 1972. A friend of mine named Sylvester Rice took me to hear the Flatlanders, at a Bar in Lubbock, Tx. I met Jimmie Gilmore and Butch Hancock, the same night.

“After that, I started calling Joe to play Harmonica on recordings at Caldwell Studio. I worked there producing and playing on recordings of every genre and Joe played great harp, so I called on him allot.

“In 1973, he called me and said he was playing a show at the Main Street Saloon, near Texas Tech, and asked if I would play Pedal Steel, so I did. There was no rehearsal, just throw and go. He also had Rick Hulett on guitar and fiddle and Gregg Wright on Bass. Joe would call a song and tell us the key and we would all dive in. It worked and was amazing and was fun. The Crowd totally got into it. I remember we made 50.00 each.

“Joe was trying to raise enough money to move to Austin, so he asked if we wanted to play again the next weekend, but for two nights. We did and it was a full house both nights. There was a long line to get it. Joe played a few original songs along with songs from Hank Williams, Jimmie Rogers, Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie and Buddy Holly. The Crowd totally ate it up both nights.
Joe said ‘Well, I think I might hang around here a little longer. Do ya’ll want to do this some more?’ And that’s how the Joe Ely Band was started and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of Joe’s music for over 50 yrs.

“The band changed a bit by 1974, Rick went to College and was replaced by Jesse Taylor on guitar, and we got a Drummer, Steve Keaton…then, in 1977, we added Ponty Bone on Accordion, It was a combination that should not have worked, but it did. Joe had great intuition. Over the years Joe had an assortment of musicians play in the band. Always great players. Joe was such a strong and compelling artist, it made all the band guys feel empowered to play at 110% all the time and always honor the song.

“The band would meet at a little house near campus and work up Joe’s original songs as well as songs written by Jimmy and Butch. That house had no air conditioning, so we would open all the windows. We played loud as hell, but surprisingly the neighbors never complained.

“Joe was the catalyst for it all, but he encouraged us to do our own thing with the arrangements. It was like making a stew and Joe would give it the final taste test. We did a demo recording at Caldwel Studio and MCA Records heard it. They knew something was there, but they were not exactly sure what it was. But, it was something. Something Indeed!!

“The rest is history. An amazing story of an artist who was never afraid of trying something different with his music.
Joe joined the circus, right out of high school and learned allot about Entertaining. Sometimes, backstage, if he wanted to fire up the band, he would get in the middle of the floor and stand on his head: Yes, put his legs straight up in the air and stand on his head. I’m not kidding. Contrary to ordinary indeed, and it showed in his songs.

“I’ll close by saying that, not only could Joe rock any stage for any crowd world wide, but he was a sensitive and compassionate human being.

“Joe Ely will be missed by all who knew him and he and his music with never be forgotten. Rest in Peace my Friend,
Lloyd Maines”

Great stuff, thanks--and that's when he's being concise! Lloyd's own alb should be better known yham I'm assuming it is:https://lloydmaines.bandcamp.com/album/eagle-number-65