It’s been more than five years since Colin Gilmore released his last full length disc, The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way (Squirm), but 2009 is shaping up to be his year. It began with the Flatlanders – Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and his father, Jimmie Dale – deciding to include one of his songs on their latest, Hills & Valleys (New West).
“They had recorded most of the album,” he recalls. “One morning my dad called me and said, ‘I kind of like the idea of using one of your songs. Is that OK?’ I was like, ‘Of course it is.’ He said, ‘There’s a couple of them that I’d like to do, and I want to ask the band about them. I’m headed over there right now and it’s going to be a split second decision. Can you send me a mp3 and lyrics?’ So I did and maybe two hours later, tops, he called me up and told me they already recorded it. They just whipped it out. They actually recorded a couple of them but they ended up using ‘The Way We Are’ and did a beautiful job of it.”
Since the Flatlanders album was released in March, the younger Gilmore has opened some West Coast shows for them. “It was nothing but good,” he admits. “We sold a lot of CDs. I sold out a couple of smaller shows on my own and had a great time at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.” Now doors seem to be opening all over the place – most recently he was in the Northwest opening for Alejandro Escovedo.
Talk of a new record no longer seems to be a fantasy. “I’ve got recordings now,” he states. “As it stands, [Dixie Chicks/Terri Hendrix producer] Lloyd Maines is going to be co-producer with me. I welcome any touch that he can bring to it. I’ve got pieces of nine songs done. We’re creeping up on it. There’s no real time table for release, but I’m hoping for this year some time.”
Friday, both Gilmores appear at Threadgill’s South to celebrate the 39th anniversary of the opening of the Armadillo World Headquarters. At 34, Colin is too young to remember the storied venue: “It’s possible that my parents took me there. From the time I was one ’til the time I was five, we bounced back and forth between here and Lubbock quite a bit.”
For this writer, the real treat will be getting to see Jimmie play a solo show with a band, an event that’s much too rare these days. “I haven’t seen him by himself in a good while either,” Colin agrees. “I hope he does more. I’m just happy he’s doing it.”
This article appears in August 7 • 2009.