Jimmie Dale Gilmore

The record buyers responsible for making a Robert Johnson reissue outsell most new
releases last year delivered a strong message to the recording industry. Many music fans
are sick of the mechanistic fluff they've been fed and are turning to roots music in the
absence of a mainstream alternative. The industry has responded with a flood of reissues,
but Elektra's American Explorer Series is the first concerted attempt by a major l... More >

Gilmore being something of a mystic, I expect transcendence of him, and on his two previous records Butch Hancock gave it to me: "When the Nights Are Cold" on Jimmie Dale Gilmore, "See the Way" on The Flatlanders. This basically self-composed major-label whozis is solider than either, solid like the quality country album it ain't--Gilmore may not be writing so metaphysical any more, though "Go To Sleep Alone" is pretty deep, but he still sings like a space cadet. Still, some kind of quality album it is. The nearest it comes to a peak is a Butch Hancock song. (Grade: A-)