Wednesday, April 1, 2009

FLATLANDERS at Waterloo Records 3-31-09

The Flatlanders have recorded their first record together in 10 or 11 years, I believe. It's called Hills And Valleys. We were lucky enough to get an in-store on the release day. They were leaving town afterward to start a national tour in support of the album.
I'm familiar with Joe Ely much more than I am the other 2, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Joe's a heckuva writer.
Earlier in the day they were on KUT live and played several songs. All sounded good but one of them I fell in love with right away, After The Storm. They told the story of how it was written. They had decided to sit down together and start writing. Well, they got together at the same time Katrina was hitting New Orleans. They said they couldn't write because they were watching on tv all that was happening. This song came out of that experience. When I heard it on KUT it stopped me in my tracks. One of those. I was sure hoping they would play it at Waterloo and they did!
The first 3 songs from the new record were played in order at Waterloo. This was perfect as each song had a different lead singer. I got lucky and picked those 3 songs to video. You can see them here:
youtube.com/DownThunderRoad
They played for about 40 minutes, I think. It was great! Their full band was with them so it was a fun little set. Their sound is so pure Texas country with some Mexican and Woodie Guthrie influences thrown in for good measure.
Speaking of the album, I have played it a couple of times now and have fallen in love with it already. That song, After The Storm? On the album, Lloyd Maines slaps this crying peddle steel on it which is just perfect. Nothing like steel for a sad song.
This was as crowded as I've seen Waterloo for an in-store and that includes when Willie Nelson was there.

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