The album is not only his first since 1996's Braver New World (from way back in the 20th century) but the debut release on his own Windcharger Music label. The result is the album that Gilmore considers closest to his heart.

He describes the collection as a musical self-portrait, an artistic mosaic of the various influences that have forged his singular artistry. Though the selection features some inspired original material the album-opening title track and the Orbisonesque "Blue Shadows" it mainly celebrates the songwriting contemporaries who have touched him most deeply. Many of them have also been among his closest friends; some are no longer with us. In paying tribute to Townes Van Zandt, Walter Hyatt and Jerry Garcia, he affirms that their music will live forever.

Album highlights additionally find him returning to the songbook of Butch Hancock, while applying his interpretive artistry to favorites by such storied songwriters as John Hiatt, Willis Alan Ramsey and Jesse Winchester. While it wouldn't be a Gilmore album without a couple of revelatory surprises, neither the Grateful Dead's "Ripple" nor the Brecht - Weill classic "Mack the Knife" sounds like much of a stretch once one hears how easily the singer adapts those songs to his pure, plaintive style.

For such a pivotal project, Gilmore teamed with Buddy Miller, Nashville producer and guitarist extraordinaire, whose work with Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle (as well as his own albums and those of wife Julie) had established him as a kindred spirit. Miller enlisted the services of a stellar crew of Gilmore fans, including Harris, Jim Lauderdale, Victoria Williams, Cry Cry Cry and Julie Miller to participate in this labor-of-love recording.

Gilmore has long followed his heart, without regard to musical trends or categories. Raised in the West Texas town of Lubbock, he responded earliest to the honky-tonk brand of country music that his father played as a bar-band guitarist. In the '50s, he felt an immediate connection with the emerging rock and roll of other West Texans such as Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, and he was profoundly influenced by the folk and blues revivals that followed. Like practically everyone of his generation, he felt transformed in the 60's by the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

Teaming with boyhood buddies Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore found common ground for such disparate influences in the Flatlanders. More of a song swap than a commercial endeavor, the band's sole recording project in the early 70's was barely distributed. It has since been acknowledged (through Rounder's 1991 reissue, (More a Legend Than a Band) as a milestone of progressive, alternative country music. The bonds among the three friends have never weakened, and they continue to reunite for occasional Flatlanders performances, with an eye toward a decades-overdue followup album. Choosing spiritual pursuits over show business, Gilmore spent much of the 70's in a Denver ashram, while his songs such as "Dallas" and "Treat Me Like a Saturday Night" were establishing his reputation through Ely's recordings. It wasn't until 1988 that Gilmore released his first solo album for Hightone, the Ely-produced Fair & Square, which reconciled his spiritual quest with a recording career.

Following a second, self-titled album for Hightone in 1989, the next decade saw the full flowering of this late bloomer. Three albums for Elektra, 1991's "After Awhile" (the highlight of Elektra/Nonesuch's well-received American Explorer series), 1993's "Spinning Around the Sun" and 1996's "Braver Newer World" earned Gilmore reams of press and tons of accolades. The Rolling Stone Critics' Poll named him the Country Artist of the Year for two straight years, while the Grammys nominated him for Best Contemporary Folk Artist for "Spinning Around the Sun" and "Braver Newer World".

After four years of taking stock, Gilmore has re-emerged with the most effective synthesis to date of his traditional and visionary influences, on an album that both brings him full circle and opens new vistas. Though other labels made offers to sign Gilmore, the artist and manager Mike Crowley decided the time was right to take full control. The songs and the sound of the album resist easy categorization, melding the strains of inspiration that Gilmore holds dearest.

The Gear

Jimmie uses an EA20 Acoustic/Electric.

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