The Flatlanders
★★★★ Treasure Of Love RACK’EM/THIRTY TIGERS. CD/DL/LP
Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely’s outlaw country supergroup returns.
It’s been 12 years since The Flatlanders’ last new album – not counting 2012’s Odessa Tapes whose songs were recorded in 1972, the year the band began. According to Joe Ely, whenever they’d make a start on a follow-up, their solo careers would get in the way until the pandemic forced them off the road. The distressed, well-thumbed album sleeve, picturing three horsemen silhouetted against a Sun Records logo sunset, makes
Treasure look even more vintage than Odessa. Sounds a bit that way too. Of the 15 new recordings, very few are new originals. Most are new versions of classic country or Americana songs they’ve covered live over the years. The musicianship’s great, Lloyd Maines’ production’s gorgeous and there’s a slew of highlights, ranging from an upbeat rockabilly take on The Mississippi Sheiks’ Sittin’ On Top Of The World to the stoic Townes Van Zandt cover Snowin’ On Raton.