The Flatlanders: Now It's Now Again (American Music Series)

THE FLATLANDERS: A BIOGRAPHY by John T. DavisReview by JohnnyHughes.comThis well-wrin biography traces the journey of the Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore Butch Hancock , and Joe Ely, from their formation in Lubbock, Texas in 1972 to Carnegie Hall. Davis documents what brilliant solo careers each of these singer-songwriters has had along the way and all the awards they have won. Joe Ely was named the Texas Musician of the Year for 2016. Jimmie Dale Gilmore and James Jamie Howelll played at parties I had at my favorite gambling joint in 1964. Barry Corbin and I did improvisational theater. I first heard Butch Hancock sing his spell-binding compositions at a party at Sydney Shaw Shaw's Lubbock house in 1969. That was way back when he had only written two hundred songs! The Flatlanders played at a party at Alan Barber's Espanola, New Mexico in 1972. Their performance amazed the crowd. Later, I was sitting on the edge of an irrigation ditch out back when Joe Ely sat down across from me with his guitar. He sang his autobiographical song, "Hopes Up High." I knew he wrote it because he had run off to Ringling Brothers Circus, every young man's dream.The first night I heard the Joe Ely Band play at Main Street Saloon, I put a hundred-dollar bill in Joe's shirt pocket and told him that I wantd to be the band's manager. I was the manager during the time of his first three critically acclaimed albums on MCA RECORDS. Our booking agent at the William Morris Agency was Bob Neal, Elvis Presley's first manager. I had met Elvis and Bob when I was bootlegging at Lubbock's legendary Cotton Club when I was fifteen years old. I was in Nashville alone when I called Bob and told the secretary I'd met him at the Cotton Club. He told me to come right on over. I played him Joe's demo tape fromDon Caldwell Studios in Lubbock and he signed us up. He said Elvis had been punched out at the Cotton Club by a jealous cowboy. Bob becamed my best friend and mentor in the music business . The orgininal Joe Ely Band was Joe on vocals and guitar, Lloyd Maines on steel guitar, Jesse Taylor on electric guitar, Ponty Bone on accordion, Steve KeetonKeeton on drums, and Greg Wright on bass. The stage band did all the recording. All the songs were written by one of the Flatlanders A critic from Melody Maker Magazine, the Rolling Stone of England came to the Cotton Club and wrote that this was, "the best band in the world!" I believed that then. I believe that now. CDs from each of these men and the Flatlanders are availble on Amazon.You will love this book if you are a fan! Even I was surprised at all the honors each has won.I have each of these men and other real Texans in my next novel, A TEXAS BEAUTY: SMART and STRONG, which will be on Amazon in a few months. JohnnyHughes.com

Right off I must admit that I am a devoted Jimmie Dale Gilmore and a Flatlanders fan, so I devoured the book as if it were a big dish of ice cream on a hot summer's day.

Great to read an insight into one of the greatest Texas Bands

A very nice history of one Great Texas Band!

Great book about The Flatlanders.