Jimmie Dale Gilmore

With a warm, warbling tenor voice and folksy, personable approach to his music and his audience, Jimmie Dale Gilmore is the archetypical Texas singer/songwriter, with his eye for the dusty beauty of the Southwest meshing with his Zen cowboy demeanor. Gilmore's early work with Joe Ely and Butch Hancock as the Flatlanders, collected on 2024's All American Music, was a crucial precursor to both the outlaw country and alt-country movements. Gilmore's first major-label solo release, 1991's After Awhile, was a superb document of his songwriting chops and sure grasp of folk, country, and pop idioms. Through the '90s, he recorded at a relaxed pace, and after years of keeping a low profile outside the Southwest, he set out on tour in 2017 with roots rock veteran Dave Alvin. The collaboration led to the pair cutting two albums together: 2018's Downey to Lubbock and 2024's Texicali.