Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

singer-songwriter currently living in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

, Texas.

Life and career

Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

. His earliest musical influence was

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

and the

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...

brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

and Lubbock native

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, as well as to

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, the latter two being in the line up at a concert he attended on October 15, 1955, at Lubbock's Fair Park Coliseum. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

and the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. The group has been performing on and off since 1972. The band's first recording project, from the early 1970s, was barely distributed. It has since been acknowledged, through Rounder's 1990 reissue (''More a Legend Than a Band''), as a milestone of progressive,

alternative country Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...

. The three friends continued to reunite for occasional Flatlanders performances, and in May 2002, released a long-awaited follow-up album, ''Now Again,'' on New West Records. After briefly attending

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, Gilmore spent much of the 1970s in an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, studying

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

with teenaged Indian guru Prem Rawat, also known as Maharaji. In the 1980s, he moved to

, where his first solo album, '' Fair & Square'', was released in 1988. In 1994, Gilmore teamed up with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

to contribute "Crazy" to the AIDS benefit album '' Red Hot + Country'' produced by the Red Hot Organization. Gilmore appeared as himself in

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...

's 1993 film '' The Thing Called Love'', a love story about young songwriters in Nashville. He also had a small but memorable acting role in the 1998 movie '' The Big Lebowski''. He portrayed a bowler named Smokey, an aging, emotionally "fragile" pacifist threatened with a pistol by Walter Sobchak, "The Dude" Lebowski's best friend and sidekick (

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...

). He has also been a guest on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'', with host

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

, the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'', Garrison Keillor's ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'' on NPR, and the ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

'' radio program with

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of '' Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NP ...

. Gilmore's son, Colin Gilmore, is also a singer–songwriter based in Austin. Gilmore's song "Braver Newer World" is featured in the 1995

Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making light comedies set in New York City and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes A ...

film '' Kicking and Screaming''. In 2005, Gilmore released ''Come on Back'', an album of songs his father loved. Gilmore said of the album, "This new album is a compilation of recordings of some old songs that my dad loved. I love them too, and it is a project very dear to me." His version of "

Mack the Knife "Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" () is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (). The song tells of a knife-wielding criminal of the London underworld n ...

" from the album ''One Endless Night'' is on the soundtrack of

Jacques Audiard Jacques Audiard (; born 30 April 1952) is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter. One of the most awarded French filmmakers in history, his international accolades include an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, and three ...

's 2009 film, '' A Prophet'' (Un Prophète). Gilmore has been nominated for three Grammys, Best Contemporary Folk Album for ''Spinning Around The Sun'' in 1993, Best Contemporary Folk Album ''Braver Newer World'' in 1996, and Best Traditional Folk Album ''Come On Back'' in 2005."Recording Academy Grammy Awards"
Grammy.com, Retrieved Feb. 14, 2018.

Discography

References

External links

Jimmie Dale Gilmore's home page

"This I Believe" Essay by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
* * *
Interview with Jimmie Dale Gilmore
on p.22, Kerrville Kronikle, Issue 4, 1989 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, Jimmie Dale 1945 births American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Record producers from Texas Living people Singers from Austin, Texas Musicians from Amarillo, Texas Musicians from Lubbock, Texas Progressive country musicians Texas Tech University alumni Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians

Life and career

Discography

See also

References

Further reading

External links