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The Flatlanders
THREE AMIGOS



There are bands out there who play different kinds of live shows from the Flatlanders, but I can’t think of any who play a better one. At the Paradise a week ago last Tuesday, the Flatlanders delivered it all: great songs, great singers, sharp playing, between-song banter that elicited laughs without pandering, and a set list that mixed bittersweet love ballads, perfectly rhymed joke songs, and what composer Virgil Thomson used to call "darn-fool ditties" before building to an act-three rave-up that left the house rocking.

The Flatlanders were born in Lubbock, Texas, more than 30 years ago, putting out one album that never got past eight-track cassette and a failed radio single. The three core members — Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock — continued to sing one another’s songs in separate careers until Rounder released that original LP in 1990, Robert Redford grabbed the boys to sing a song for the soundtrack to The Horse Whisperer, and two albums came out on New West — Now Again (2002) and the new Wheels of Fortune.

The conventional wisdom on the Flatlanders (one they confirm) is that they meld Ely’s rockabilly leanings, Gilmore’s deep country and honky-tonk background, and Hancock’s Dylan-esque folkiness. When they’re at their best, these strands of Americana wind so tight, you can’t tell who’s who, and the band become sui generis. Gilmore summed up the Flatlanders’ MO when he introduced "Wishin’ for You," from the new album: "This is a Joe Ely song, except it was written by Butch Hancock and I’m going to sing it."

The three took turns on verses all night and harmonized on the choruses. Hancock sang with an appealing hillbilly twang (augmented by his folk-blues harmonica solos) and Ely with rockabilly heft; Gilmore explored the dips and eddies of the more lyrical melodies with his slightly nasal high-lonesome Willie Nelson tenor. The three strummed acoustic guitars while Robbie Gjersoe provided the solo fireworks with a variety of electrics (including slide guitar that cut and whined) and bassist Gary Herman and drummer Chris Searles mixed up a variety of West Texas rumbas (and Hancock’s "West Texas Waltz"), New Orleans shuffles, and big-rock fours. Probably the best joke song of the night was Terry Allen’s "Gimme Me a Ride to Heaven, Boy" (sung by Ely), in which a hitchhiking Jesus turns into a carjacker. The most moving number was Al Strehli’s "Keeper of the Mountain," with Hancock and Ely repeating behind Gilmore on the chorus, "And these ain’t teardrops/That ain’t the river/Just a moment/The river’s not complaining/Oh no no no." For a little while, the trio vanished into some pre-history of rock, where R&B and street-corner doo-wop met Buddy Holly.

BY JON GARELICK

Issue Date: April 16 - 22, 2004
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