Spotlight: The Flatlanders

Three years is a good long spell to be working on an album. And yet when reached out at Joe Ely's ranchland studio south of A-Town late one evening back in January, neither Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, nor their host sounded the least bit encumbered by running sand and hourglasses. They sounded like they were having a par-tay.

"We're wilder," exclaimed Ely. "Not in a physical way, we're wilder in a mental way."

Ever since Robert Redford's people jumped at Ely's offer to regroup the Flatlanders for 1998's The Horse Whisperer soundtrack, the trio of longtime brothers in song have been piecemealing an LP together. Every few months, another few tracks demoed. "So, yeah, it's taken a long time, but we ... ," Ely starts laughing, "we're not in a hurry. It's not like we have a deadline."

New West Records, which just last week sent out four-song advances for May's slated Now Again, might beg to differ, but just don't call it a comeback. "We never went away," Ely points out. "We never recorded as the Flatlanders, but we've played a lot of shows together." Having issued Gilmore's long-forgotten 1971 Nashville debut as the Flatlanders' More a Legend Than a Band in 1990, "featuring" JDG, Ely, and Hancock, Rounder Records may have its own bone to pick with Billy the Kid's buddy. Fact is, this "comeback" is closer to 30 years in the making.

"It's sooo much fun," gushes Gilmore. "We're just as weird as when we were kids. It's still there. The magic is still really with us."

Hancock grabs the phone. "Know how you keep a small dog from hunching your leg?" he asks. "You pick him up by his front legs ... and start sucking his dick."

The room erupts with laughter. Hancock calls out to Ely, "He says don't be surprised if that's in the paper next week."

"Joe's doubling up," hoots Hancock. "Willie told that joke. He says blame it on Willie."