Tonight

I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown

It's no secret that I will forever be indebted to my father for (among countless other things) getting me into all the coolest music that I listen to; so, yesterday on Father's Day I began recounting just how many of the top played records in my collection are direct products of his taste. Among this myriad of artists lies the body of work produced by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and his sometimes-associates The Flatlanders. The man's voice is impeccable and The Flatlanders were pioneers (the group consisted of Jimmie along with Joe Ely and Butch Hancock), but this particular record has always stood out to me. It's Jimmie's third solo LP, it was released in 1991, it's called After Awhile, and thanks to my father I've been aware of how incredible it is for nearly as long as I can remember.


Jimmie Dale Gilmore- After Awhile

Now, I'd be guilty of a flagrant omission if I were to leave out the fact that you may recognize Jimmie from his cameo appearance in The Big Lebowski as the timid pacifist Smokey, whom is so memorably instructed to "mark it zero" by the lovable Walter.



And as an added bonus here's a photo of a little souvenir I picked up when I saw Jimmie perform a few years back at the First Congregational Church in Montclair, NJ as part of Outpost In The Burbs:



I felt like I'd be blowing it if I just saw Jimmie Dale perform solo to a crowd of about 50 people and didn't chew the fat with him for a bit after the gig and so I wound up bringing the Lebowski dvd insert over to him. He was a really friendly guy and he seemed genuinely happy to see that someone had remembered his brief acting career, replying "whoa mann..ohh man" about 10 times (punctuated by intermittent laughter) when I produced the insert.

So, Jimmie's a remarkable talent and a real class act, but let's not forget the root of this post: thanks, Dad.

Fuck it, just for good measure here's a video of Jimmie performing at the Townes Van Zandt tribute at The Bottom Line in NYC:





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PS our boys over at GRILLO'S PICKLES have gotten even more press from the guys over at Stuff, check the vid HERE. also check out Pickle Freak and keep supporting the Grillo's empire.