Lubbock, Texas is located is a small college town in the northwestern part of the state and is the birth place of rock and roll legend Buddy Holly. The city is also recognized as the birth place of musicians Mac Davis, Delbert McClinton, Terry Allen, Lloyd Maines and daughter Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks fame, Richard Mc Donald of Lone Star and others in fact the list of country and blues musicians that have come from the region is quite remarkable.
Traditional Country Music Mixed With an Alternative Style
Among some of this talent came together were a trio of singer-songwriters from the Monterey High School in Lubbock that would become known in country music circles as the Lubbock Mafia or in the music world as the legendary Flatlanders. They were Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. The area of Lubbock in the west Texas flatlands were filled with fierce conservative values but also was a place where an artist could develop a unique style of their own. With a broad range of influences in music that went from Jimmie Rogers, Waylon Jennings, Lefty Frizzell to Buddy holly The Beatle Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, the Flatlanders were born.
Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore
The three musicians came together at school and played together along with the local and drifting musicians that played in the area. Before long the group's lineup would solidify with Gilmore on lead vocals Ely and Hancock on guitar, buddy Steve Wesson on Auto harp, Tommy Hancock on fiddle, Sylvester Rice on upright bass and Tony Pearson on mandolin. They recorded their first release of material in Nashville, and a released a single called Dallas which was the strongest cut from the album. The record flopped and got no air play. The trio played some gigs and then broke up.
Ten years later the group would come together to perform the soundtrack for the movie called The Horse Whisperer. For the previous 10 years Ely and Hancock had become cult heroes thanks to solo albums and singer-songwriting careers. Gilmore, who was a writer and had penned songs for Ely and Hancock, had retired from performing and was studying the Guru Maharaja. After a while Gilmore returned to performing, moving to Austin, Texas. There was a brief reunion at the Kerriville Folk Festival in the late 80s. By the 90s Rounder Records released More A Legend Than A Band which reissued the original Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders album replacing covers Hello Stranger and Waiting For a Train, along with four previously unreleased tracks that were recorded during the same sessions.
The Horse Whisperer Brought Them Back Together Again
Working on a movie soundtrack called the Horse Whisperer, a film by Robert Redford, the band was brought back together by chance nearly 10 years after the festival. They enjoyed themselves so much they decided to stay together, perform, and record another album together called Now And Again. The trio that spent 30 years between the first and second album.Then went on to release a concert album called Wheels of Fortune in 2004 with concert music that was done in the early 70’s. Then Hills and Valleys which they recorded with legendary petal steel guitar player and country music producer Lloyd Maines.
With 40 years of friendship together the so called not-really-a-band-band have had extraordinary careers as solo artist and writers. Its hard to agree on certain lyrics that make all of them happy. Still they continue to nurture their song-writing together alongside their own solo careers. As Joe Ely sums up their philosophy on creativity, on their My Space page “We might as well write music and make songs up, because there’s not anything that we’d rather be doing.”
References
The Flatlanders Bio./AOL Music. com
Jim Galloway - Professional Musician/Published Songwriter for 30 yrs. With over 200 Articles in Recording/Music Buisness/ Resources/Vintage Instruments
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