The Flatlanders – “You’ve Never Seen Me Cry” from More a Legend Than a Band (1990)
Thanks to the good folks at The Rising Storm for hooking me up with the Flatlanders. A country super-group comprised of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, and one-time Clash opener Joe Ely, the Flatlanders never got around to releasing anything in their lifetime, but these 1972 sessions were eventually collected, at the dawn of the alt-country movement. Listen for a theremin-sounding wobble: I think that’s somebody playing the saw.
–Glenn
So Well Remembered 
That Flatlanders record is amazing. If anybody is dying for more Flatlanders-ish music, the live Butch Hancock/Jimmie Dale Gilmore record called “Two Roads” is pretty good. I think its from 1992.
The Flatlanders are still alive and well, and have made two more records after that first one: Now Again, which came out 30 years after that original release, and Wheels of Fortune. They were playing the festival circuit pretty actively last summer, and are a fixture at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco. Check them out live sometime–or find the Austin City Limits concert DVD. They’re great! That was Steve Wesson on the saw. He doesn’t play with them in concert, but you can hear a few tasty saw licks on all three of the records.
I really wanted to catch these guys in LI this summer but I couldn’t make it! Next time.
That fella on the right there is Jimmie Dale Gilmore who you might recognize as Smokey from the Big Lebowski. Damn beautiful voice and I will always treasure this record.
“This isn’t Nam, Smokey. There are rules.”
lol, god i love that movie
ok this is really stupid, but aint he saying “country mailman wonders”? i looked up the flatlanders on cowboylyrics etc so i could sing it, but couldn’t find anywhere. anyway, if you are learning country guitar, get this album and a capo and you can have some serious fun playing along track 1 to end.
i know this one alright, “a steel and concrete soul in a warm-hearted love disguise” hahah, ok sorry.
I’m pretty sure the mailman is muttering, not wondering.
Bravo, Glenn. This song is excellent. I ordered the album.
Is there a goose in the field, standing next to the guy in the middle?
the head of that goose is actually the tail of a cocker spaniel (or some type of small dog).
‘the windmills and the water tanks all stand on solid ground’
don’t you think that’s a weird thing to mutter tho? listening a few times it does sound like ‘mutter’ but there is some leeway for ‘wonder.’
I think the mailman is muttering “the windmills and the water tanks all stand on solid ground.” If he’s wondering, we need an interrogative pronoun, like “why”: “Mailman wonders….why the windmills…” or “…how the windmills…” or “…whether the windmills…”
It is a weird thing to mutter, but have you ever seen Dallas on DC-9 at night?
Glenn and Jordy, you guys were right!
and here is the proof:
The Flatlanders – You’ve Never Seen Me Cry (Live)
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