Jimmie Dale Gilmore
One Endless Night
(Windcharger Music / Rounder)

Joe Ely
Live @ Antone’s
(Rounder)

Maybe the music never died when Buddy Holly did. In Holly’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas, it just went into hibernation until a trio of songwriters, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock emerged as the still-talked-about Flatlanders. They achieved moderate notoriety but more importantly, they obtained cult status in a Zen countrified sort of way. Now, decades later, each has earned critical acclaim while avoiding the generic pabulum of the Nashville machinery.

Gilmore’s masterpiece, perhaps the best of his career, comes after a four-year hiatus. While Gilmore is highly regarded among Texas songsmiths, the funny thing is that there are only three originals—the rest are covers. Regardless if they’re covers or not, they’re still great songs and if Jimmie Dale didn’t write ’em, admittedly he wished he did. The title song he did, the dreamy “One Endless Night,” as well as “Blue Shadows” and the hidden “DFW” track. Just like Gilmore can pen ’em, he can pick from the best of them. A Texas songwriter theme meanders through most of this with a deuce from Hancock (“Banks of the Guadalupe,” “Ramblin’ Man”), “No Lonesome Tune” from Townes Van Zandt, “Goodbye Old Missoula” from Willis Alan Ramsey and “Georgia Rose” from Walter Hyatt. The version of Steve Gillette’s “Darcy Farrow” literally floats out its transcendental soul while Gilmore successfully tackles “Ripple,” the Dead staple, and even “Mack The Knife,” redone as a supple, if not quirky, ballad. His warbly tenor voice is still pristinely intact and being backed by a cast of luminaries that includes Darrel Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Buddy and Julie Miller (in addition to his already tight ensemble) truly ranks this one among the best of the Texas troubadour albums.

While Gilmore’s One Endless Night is best described as atmospheric, Ely’s Live @ Antone’s is 180 degrees away, a meaty and muscular sound that adorns a freshly etched tattoo. Recorded at Clifford Antone’s Austin club, Ely rocks the Texas nation with longtime compatriots Jesse Taylor (guitar), Lloyd Maines (pedal steel), Joel Guzman (Tex-Mex accordion) and Teye (flamenco guitar). And what a powerful performance it was. Singing passionately in his clear-channel voice, Ely unravels tales of hardscrabble lives, desperate desires and tougher-than-life characters running frantically on the edge. The material sweeps across nine gritty originals and well-chosen selections from Robert Earl Keen, Utah Phillips, Tom Russell and of course pals Gilmore and Hancock. The rousing moments are endless as explosive guitar solos, bouncy accordion rides and hard-driving pedal steel runs exemplify the fiery brand of live music the Lone Star state and Ely are famous for.