The Flatlanders, Reckless Kelly May 7, 2004

$25

The Flatlanders--Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock--came together in Lubbock, Texas in 1971. They were an insider's secret during the golden era of cosmic Austin country rock and recorded one album together; it disappeared almost immediately, but rare copies circulated from hand to hand for years afterward and generated momentum for reissues and a growing legend. The three individual Flatlanders, meanwhile, had gone on to solo careers as some of Texas's top singer-songwriters of the 1980s and 1990s. The Flatlanders reunited in 2002 with Now Again and for their new Wheels of Fortune album, imbued with a new sense of what they shared and of what each member--mystically melancholy Gilmore, rocker Ely, and song carpenter Hancock--brought to the group. Now they often sing each other's songs, offering a compelling distillation of Texas music at its best.