Treasure of Love Flatlanders, The SKU: RERLP0011 Barcode: 787790341659 21.00 £21.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Rack 'Em Records Released Date: 9th July 2021 Buying Format: 2LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info “We’ve all been fans of each other from the start,” says Jimmie Dale Gilmore, “but the thing that’s always struck me about The Flatlanders is that, first and foremost, it’s a band rooted in friendship. Beyond the music, we just connect with each other in these deep and personal ways, and that’s been a lifelong treasure.” Take a listen to Treasure of Love, The Flatlanders’ first new album in more than a decade, and it’s clear that those bonds are deeper and stronger now than ever before. Completed during COVID-19 lockdowns with the help of longtime friend and collaborator Lloyd Maines, the record finds the iconic Texas trio of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock in classic form, serving up a rollicking collection of twang-fueled, harmony-laden performances full of wry humor and raw heartbreak. While a few of the songs here are never-before-heard originals, the vast majority of the tracklist consists of vintage tunes the band picked up during their 50-year career, some stretching as far back as the group’s earliest performances in the honkytonks around Lubbock, TX, where you might have spotted Willie Nelson or Townes Van Zandt in the audience on any given night. These days, you may be more likely to find avowed fans like the Coen Brothers or David Byrne in the crowd, but the spirit of The Flatlanders remains the same: everything’s better with friends. “Whenever the three of us get together, it all feels so fresh and exciting and unpredictable,” says Hancock. “Every time we collaborate, there’s this feeling of newness and possibility, even though it’s all a part of this same story we’ve been telling since the very beginning.” For The Flatlanders, that story began back in the early 1970s, when Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock first came together for a string of performances and recording sessions that would go on to become the stuff of legend. Though the band was locally beloved at the time, national critics and radio largely ignored The Flatlanders, whose mix of country, folk, bluegrass, and rock and roll fell well outside of the mainstream, and by the end of 1973, the trio was already headed their own separate ways with little to show for their time together but an under-distributed debut released only on 8-track tape. In the decades to come, however, Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock would all go on to achieve considerable success as solo artists, and as their individual profiles grew, so too did the mythic status of The Flatlanders. Rumors, speculation, and bootlegs swirled until 1990, when Rounder Records reissued the group’s original recordings under the particularly fitting title More A Legend Than A Band. This time around, The Flatlanders received their due, with critics hailing them as visionaries and craftsmen of the highest caliber. With a sound that would lay much of the groundwork for the nascent Americana scene (The New York Times dubbed the band’s long-lost first album a “founding document of the alternative country movement”), the trio began collaborating and touring on and off again for the next thirty years, releasing a series of acclaimed studio albums in the 2000s that prompted Rolling Stone to hail them as “hippie-country pioneers” and NPR’s Mountain Stage to declare them “one of country-rock’s most influential bands.” “A lot of groups our age are either dead or not speaking to each other anymore,” says Gilmore, “but I think part of the reason The Flatlanders are still together is that we’ve all had our own separate careers along the way. We’re all such strange individualists, but we can co-captain this ship together because every time we come back to it, we feel that same magic we felt when we first started playing together.” It was that magic that inspired the band to record many of the covers that appear on Treasure of Love, revisiting songs they enjoyed playing from the early days and capturingthem for the sheer joy of it. Not realizing at the time that they were actually making a record, the trio worked fast and loose in the studio, laying down raw, playful takes whenever they had free time between sessions or tours. It was only when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock to simultaneously clear all of their calendars that the band realized they had an album on their hands (and, just as importantly, the time to complete it). “I like to say that this album evolved more than it was recorded,” says Ely, who hosted the initial recording sessions and worked extensively on the tracks at his Spur Studios in Austin. “We’d been chipping away at these songs for a while without ever really finishing anything, so when lockdown started, it seemed like the perfect time to really focus on it.” Bringing the raw material to Lloyd Maines was an obvious next step for the trio, as the famed Texas producer and multi-instrumentalist—known for his work with The Chicks, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Jeff Walker, Wilco, Terry Allen, and countless others—had been a part of The Flatlanders’ orbit since before they were even a band. Maines had also worked with each member on their own solo projects over the years, as well, which made him particularly well suited to help finish their musical sentences and flesh out the recordings. “Joe called and asked if I’d be interested in finishing out some Flatlanders tracks,” recalls Maines, who co-produced the record along with Ely and Ely’s wife, Sharon. “I told him that I was always interested in making some Flatlanders music. I added a lot of instruments and replaced a few things to make the songs sound complete, but the core of those tracks, the lead vocals by Joe and Jimmie and Butch, already sounded great. They gave me some stellar performances to work with.” Those vocal performances—sometimes achingly lonely, sometimes slyly hilarious—are the heart and soul of Treasure of Love, which opens with the searing “Moanin’ Of The Midnight Train.” One of the few originals on the album (this one penned by Hancock), the song is lean and gritty, evoking the vast emptiness of the West Texas landscape in all its bittersweet beauty and isolation. Like much of the record, it’s utterly captivating, but it doesn’t fit neatly into any particular genre, weaving a broad swath of American musical traditions together into a singular whole. The band’s rueful take on “Long Time Gone,” first made famous by The Everly Brothers, mixes country waltzing and bluegrass harmonies, while their stately rendition of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs To Me” splits the difference between Greenwich Village and Galveston, and the old-time blues tune “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” transforms into a rip-roaring rocker in their capable hands. “I think we’ve been playing that song since the beginning of time,” Ely says with a laugh. In fact, several of the tracks here were favorites of The Flatlanders in their original incarnation, including Leon Russell’s “She Smiles Like A River,” Mickey Newbury’s “Mobile Blues,” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Snowin’ On Raton.” But it’s perhaps the shuffling title track, originally written by George Jones and the Big Bopper, that encapsulates the record best, with Gilmore singing “Why should I worry what tomorrow will bring? / For the treasure of love, the treasure of love makes me a king.” What the future holds in these strange, uncertain times is anybody’s guess, but for now, The Flatlanders have got each other, and that’s a treasure indeed.HISTORY/ABOUT – For The Flatlanders, that story began back in the early 1970s, when Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock first came together for a string of performances and recording sessions that would go on to become the stuff of legend. Though the band was locally beloved at the time, national critics and radio largely ignored The Flatlanders, whose mix of country, folk, bluegrass, and rock and roll fell well outside of the mainstream, and by the end of 1973, the trio was already headed their own separate ways with little to show for their time together but an under-distributed debut released only on 8-track tape. In the decades to come, however, Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock would all go on to achieve considerable success as solo artists, and as their individual profiles grew, so too did the mythic status of The Flatlanders. Rumors, speculation, and bootlegs swirled until 1990, when Rounder Records reissued the group’s original recordings under the particularly fitting title More A Legend Than A Band. This time around, The Flatlanders received their due, with critics hailing them as visionaries and craftsmen of the highest caliber. With a sound that would lay much of the groundwork for the nascent Americana scene (The New York Times dubbed the band’s long-lost first album a “founding document of the alternative country movement”), the trio began collaborating and touring on and off again for the next thirty years, releasing a series of acclaimed studio albums in the 2000s that prompted Rolling Stone to hail them as “hippie-country pioneers” and NPR’s Mountain Stage to declare them “one of country-rock’s most influential bands.” Artist Flatlanders, The Genre Americana / Country Label Rack 'Em Records Buying Options 2LP Format 2LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Moanin' of the Midnight Train Long Time Gone Snowin' on Raton She Smiles Like a River Love, Please Come Home Give My Love to Rose Treasure of Love Satin Shoes The Ballad of Honest Sam Mama Does the Kangaroo She Belongs to Me I Don't Blame You Mobile Blue Ramblin' Man Sittin' on Top of the World Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Americana / Country View Product Quick View Lola Kirke Lady For Sale Americana / Country | Third Man Records | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 29th April 2022 £15.00 - £18.00 Select options Lola Kirke Lady For Sale £15.00 - £18.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Third Man Records Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 29th April 2022 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Old 97's Hitchhike to Rhome Americana / Country | Omnivore | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 17th November 2014 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Old 97's Hitchhike to Rhome £26.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Omnivore SKU: OVLP104 Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 17th November 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Two Gallants We Are Undone Americana / Country | ATO | 1LP, Includes CD Released 5th February 2015 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Two Gallants We Are Undone £20.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: ATO SKU: ATO0257LP Formats: 1LP, Includes CD Released Date: 5th February 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Tommy Stinson's Cowboys In The Campfire Wronger Americana / Country | ICONS CREATING EVIL ART | 1LP Released 7th July 2023 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Tommy Stinson's Cowboys In The Campfire Wronger £21.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: ICONS CREATING EVIL ART SKU: ICEAUKLP19 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 7th July 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else Americana / Country | Bloodshot | 1LP Released 17th February 2014 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else £18.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Bloodshot SKU: BS219LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 17th February 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Drive-By Truckers A Blessing And A Curse Americana / Country | New West | 180g, 1LP Released 1st February 2008 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Drive-By Truckers A Blessing And A Curse £18.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: New West SKU: NW5008 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 1st February 2008 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Little Feat Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003 Americana / Country | Vinyl Vault | 3LP Released 5th June 2020 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Little Feat Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003 £21.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Vinyl Vault SKU: VV3LP004 Formats: 3LP Released Date: 5th June 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Glass Hours, The The Glass Hours Americana / Country | CORNELIUS CHAPEL RECORDS | 1LP Released 1st March 2024 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Glass Hours, The The Glass Hours £18.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: CORNELIUS CHAPEL RECORDS SKU: CCR70LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 1st March 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Shania Twain Come On Over – Diamond Edition Americana / Country | UMR | 180g, 2LP Released 25th August 2023 £39.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Shania Twain Come On Over – Diamond Edition £39.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: UMR SKU: 5565437 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 25th August 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Ryan Bingham Live Americana / Country | Humphead | 2LP Released 7th February 2018 £29.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Ryan Bingham Live £29.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Humphead SKU: AB48261 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 7th February 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Americana / Country Start again
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