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Groupe Country US originaire de Lubbock (Texas) et composé de de Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely et Butch Hancock.
The 1990 compilation of the Flatlanders' entire recorded history wasn't called
More a Legend Than a Band for nothing. Although the Lubbock, TX-based group had
the worst business luck this side of Badfinger and never did manage a full-fledged
release of their unique take on traditional country music during their early-'70s
existence, the three key members --
Jimmie Dale Gilmore,
Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock -- went on to
become three of Texas' most respected singer/songwriters.
Lubbock, a smallish college town in the middle of the cotton-growing flatlands
of the West Texas panhandle, is both a fiercely traditional bastion of
conservative values and, thanks to the surprisingly good liberal arts
departments at Texas Tech University (and a relative lack of outside artistic
influences), a place where creatively minded people can develop a unique and
original style all their own. the Flatlanders embodied both sides of this
dichotomy, which is what made their music so endlessly fascinating. The group
began in 1970, when school friends Hancock,
Ely, and
Gilmore all found themselves back in Lubbock after having spent time in San
Francisco, Europe, and Austin, respectively. The three musicians roomed together
and began playing together as well, with various other local musicians drifting
in and out of the lineup. Before long, the group's roster solidified with
Gilmore on lead Vocals,
Ely and Hancock on guitar, non-musician buddy Steve Wesson on autoharp and
musical saw (both of which he learned for the express purpose of joining the
group), Tommy Hancock (no relation) on fiddle, Sylvester Rice on upright bass,
and Tony Pearson on mandolin.
The Flatlanders' manager, Lou Driver, met with another Lubbock boy,
Royce Clark, a freelance producer who worked for Shelby Singleton (who at
the time owned Sun Records). Far removed from its Sam Phillips glory days, Sun
was at this time little more than a catalog which Singleton regularly plundered
for his other labels, which included the bargain basement reissue label Share
and the barely more mainstream Plantation Records, whose colorful logo was a
fixture in the cheap bins at variety stores and truck stops throughout the
South.
Clark convinced Singleton to try the Lubbock boys out, and they arrived in
Nashville in March 1972, where they recorded enough material for a full album.
Singleton released a promo single of the group's strongest cut, "Dallas," in
late April of that year. The single attracted absolutely no radio attention, and
although the album had been mastered and artwork prepared, Singleton scrubbed
the release.
In 1973, Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders was just barely released -- on eight-track
only. Although the tape showed up in the aforementioned Southern variety stores
and truck stops, an eight-track release on a barely extant budget label with
virtually no distribution is the next thing to no release at all. The group
returned to Lubbock and played a few more gigs, but Wesson, Pearson, and Tommy
Hancock all left the group by the end of 1972. The core trio played a few more
gigs and drifted apart more than definitively breaking up.
Normally, that would have been that, but by the end of the '70s,
Ely and Hancock were cult heroes, thanks to their respective solo albums,
and
Gilmore, who had written several songs for both of them but had retired from
performing while he was studying with the Guru Maharaji, was one of the hippest
names for Texas music fans to drop. In the mid-'80s,
Gilmore returned to performing in his adopted hometown of Austin, and there
was even a brief Flatlanders reunion at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the late
'80s. In 1990, after a couple of partial reissues of the Flatlanders' material,
Rounder Records released More a Legend Than a Band, which reissued the original
Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders album, replacing the covers of "Hello Stranger"
and "Waiting for a Train" with four previously unreleased tracks that were
recorded during the same sessions.
Almost ten years later, the group reunited to perform a track for The Horse
Whisperer's soundtrack album. They enjoyed their reunion so much that they
continued to perform together, recording a new album called Now Again and
hitting the road for a well-received concert tour. The trio that spent 30 years
between their first and second albums managed to reduce their downtime to a mere
two years with the release of Wheels of Fortune in 2004; a rare concert
recording from the early '70s, Live '72, also arrived that year. Five years
later, the Flatlanders returned with another studio album, Hills and Valleys,
which the band recorded with veteran pedal steel virtuoso (and acclaimed
producer)
http://www.theflatlanders.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flatlanders
Style musical : Country-Folk, Progressive Country, Alt-Country, Americana, Alternative Country-Rock, Contemporary Country, Neo-Traditionalist Country, Outlaw Country
Years in activity :
1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Single
03/1972 | SP PLANTATION PL-92 (US) | Dallas / Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown |
1973 | SP PLANTATION PL-106 (US) | Jole Blone / You've Never Seen Me Cry |
Albums
10/1994 | CD ROUNDER ROUCDSS 34 (US) | MORE A LEGEND THAN A BAND - Dallas / Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown / You've Never Seen Me Cry / She Had Everything / Rose From The Mountain / One Day At A Time / Jolé Blon / Down In My Hometown / Bhagavan Decreed / The Heart You Left Behind / Keeper Of The Mountain / Stars In My Life / One Road More | |
05/2002 | CD NEW WEST NWCD 6040 (US) | NOW AGAIN - Going Away / Julia / Wavin' My Heart Goodbye / Down In The Light Of The Melon Moon / Right Where I Belong / My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day / I Thought The Wreck Was Over / Yesterday Was Judgement Day / Now It's Now Again / All You Are Love / You Make It Look Easy / Pay The Alligator / Down On Filbert's Rise / South Wind Of Summer | |
01/2004 | CD NEW WEST NWCD 6049 (US) |
WHEELS OF FORTUNE - Baby Do You Love Me Still? / Wheels Of Fortune / Midnight Train / Wishin' For You / Eggs Of Your Chickens / I'm Gonna Strangle You Shorty / Back To My Old Molehill / Deep Eddy Blues / Neon Of Nashville / Once Followed By The Wind / Go To Sleep Alone / Indian Cowboy / Whistle Blues / See The Way |
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06/2004 | CD NEW WEST NW 6052 (US) | LIVE AT THE ONE KNITE - AUSTIN TX - JUNE 8TH 1972 - The Stars In My Life / Honky Tonk Blues / San Francisco Bay Blues / Long Time Gone / Settin' The Woods On Fire / Love, Please Come Home / You've Never Seen Me Cry / Long Snake Moan / I Know You / Waitin' Around To Die / Hesitation Blues / Tecumseh Valley / Walkin' Down The Line / So I'll Run / Bring It On Home To Me / Jole Blon | |
03/2009 | CD NEW WEST NW 6161 (US) | HILLS AND VALLEYS - Homeland Refugee / Borderless Love / After The Storm / Wishing For A Rainbow / No Way I'll Never Need You / Just About Time / Love's Own Chains / Cry For Freedom / The Way We Are / Thank God For The Road / Free The Wind / Sowing On The Mountain / There's Never Been | |
07/2012 | CD NEW WEST NW50621 (US) | THE ODESSA TAPES - I Know You / Number Sixteen / Shadow Of The Moon / Dallas / Down In My Hometown / Stars In My Life / I Think Too Much Of You / Bhagavan Decreed / Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown / You ve Never Seen Me Cry / One Road More / Story Of You / Rose From The Mountain / The Heart You Left Behind | |
07/2021 | CD Rack 'Em RERCD 0011 (US) |
Treasure of Love - Moanin' Of The Midnight Train / Long Time Gone / Snowin' On Raton / She Smiles Like River / Love Oh Love Please Come Home / Give My Love To Rose / Treasure Of Love / Satin Shoes / The Ballad Of Honest Sam / Mama Do The Kangaroo / She Belongs To Me / I Don't Blame You / Mobile Blues / Ramblin' Man / Sittin' On Top Of The World |
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11/2024 | CD Omnivore OVCD-567 (US) |
All American Music - Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Flatlanders - Dallas / The Heart You Left Behind / She Had Everything / Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown / Waiting For A Train / Rose From The Mountain / You’ve Never Seen Me Cry / Jole Blon / Bhagavan Decreed / Keeper Of The Mountain / Hello Stranger / Down In My Hometown / Bonus Tracks : One Day At A Time / Stars In My Life / Not Long Ago / I Know You / One Road More / Dallas (alternate) |
© Rocky Productions 16/11/2024