All known recordings from Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock’s Flatlanders 1973 debut gathered for the first time.
Reflecting on The Flatlanders in 1990, Jimmie Dale Gilmore said, “The band probably has a higher reputation now than it ever did. Every time Butch Hancock and Joe Ely and I go out on the road, people want to know about The Flatlanders. We always say it was more a legend than a band.”And against all odds, the legend has grown.
—Colin Escott
All American Music is a foundational Americana album and an essential part of Texas music history, with songs like “Dallas” and “Tonight I’m Gonna Go Downtown” having become stand-alone classics. The album also gave rise to future Americana legends Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, solidifying its importance in American music.
Recorded in 1972 and scheduled for release the following year, All American Music was put on hold and went unissued except for a few copies that were released on 8-Track. It took a 1980 UK compilation to collect the known Flatlanders material, with a now out-of-print German compilation unearthing one more track in 2015.
Finally in 2024, Omnivore Recordings, in collaboration with Sun Records, brings all the known original Flatlanders tracks back to CD and a three-sided LP with a “musical saw” etching on side four. All American Music features all known 18 tracks from the sessions. The Grammy-winning team of Michael Graves, Colin Escott and Cheryl Pawelski have respectively remastered, written liner notes and produced the new compilation.
As Escott says in his notes—”More than a half-century later, The Flatlander’s’ original music still sounds fresh. It was truly a sound like no other. It’s a stretch to call an artist ‘prophetic’ if no one heard them, but in some ways The Flatlanders foretold the grab-all that became Americana
Music.”
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 One Day At A Time Stars In My Life Not Long Ago I Know You One Road More Dallas (Alternate)
