All American Music

The story is familiar to fans of roots music and left-of-center country music by now: in 1972, three little-known Texas singer/songwriters named Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock loosely cohered into a group and somehow landed a deal with Plantation Records, the label founded by Nashville trend-chaser Shelby Singleton. Dubbed the Flatlanders, they cut an album of cosmic cowboy tunes that were thinking mans folk filled with dusty post-hippie vibes, and had nothing to do with what was happening on the country charts at the time. After getting a blink-and-you-missed-it release on eight-track tape in 1973, the album disappeared. About ten years later, Gilmore, Ely, and Hancock were all rising stars in a new country scene that was forming around the Texas singer/songwriting community, and as word about that barely heard album spread, it became a much sought-after collectors item until Rounder Records released a collection of material from the Plantation sessions called More a Legend Than a Band in 1990. Since then, other odds and ends from the Flatlanders brief run in the 1970s have made their way into the marketplace, and now Omnivore Recordings has given the Plantation recordings a definitive release on All American Music, which brings together the 18 surviving tracks from their 1972 Nashville sessions (including an alternate take of "Dallas," which Singleton, in a burst of optimism, released as a promo 45 that fell on deaf ears). Gilmore is front and center on this material, having been chosen as the most interesting lead singer (the eight-track release was credited to "Jimmie Dale & the Flatlanders"), and though Hancock wrote several songs for this set (including the splendid "Youve Never Seen Me Cry" and "She Had Everything"), Gilmores "Dallas" and "Tonight I Think Im Gonna Go Downtown" are the two most mesmerizing tracks here, and would be staples in his repertoire for decades to come. (Joe Ely has no writing credits, but his vocals and guitar work are strong throughout.) The loosely tight acoustic accompaniment -- with Steve Wessons musical saw a loopy, weird, yet somehow appropriate ingredient throughout -- is an ideal fit for these songs, and this music truly sounds and feels timeless, existing in a place all its own even as other artists have tried to replicate its easygoing yet committed tone. While All American Music borrows its title and cover artwork from the 1973 eight-track release, Omnivore has given this just enough polish in remastering to allow the music to shine as it deserves, and this is a definitive presentation of music thats important, influential, and joyous. ~ Mark Deming