Fair and Square
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Description
Zen country singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore's spiritual perspective certainly owes more to Buddha than Moses, but his 1988 solo debut has something of an Old Testament story line. Gilmore partnered with fellow Texans/nascent country outcasts Joe Ely and Butch Hancock in the Flatlanders in the early 1970s, only to put aside music as a vocation when the group's sole eight-track (originally its only format) was stillborn. A decade and a half passed before the distinctive singer-songwriter recorded this unadulterated honky-tonk outing after finally coming down from the mountain (Colorado, actually) and reestablishing himself in Austin. Gilmore and old compadre Ely (who serves as producer) constructed a modest but rewarding 10-song set that provided a traditional-country oasis in a Nashville-slick wasteland. Townes Van Zandt, Ely, Hancock, and lesser-known Texas troubadour David Halley (who plays lead guitar) provide material, making Fair & Square something of a secure way station for left-of-center Lone Star songsmiths caught between the outlaws of the '70s and the alt-country insurgents of the '90s. --Steven Stolder
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