Fair & Square (Jimmie Dale Gilmore album)

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Fair & Square
Studio album by
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Released1988
GenreHonky tonk
LabelHighTone
ProducerJoe Ely
Jimmie Dale Gilmore chronology
Fair & Square
(1988) 		Jimmie Dale Gilmore
(1989)

Fair & Square is the debut solo album by the American musician Jimmie Dale Gilmore, released in 1988.[1][2] Gilmore supported the album with several live dates.[3] The first single was "Trying to Get to You".[4]

Production[edit]

The album was produced by Joe Ely, who also provided backing vocals.[5][6] Gilmore was backed by his band, the Continental Drifters.[7] Lloyd Maines contributed on steel guitar.[8] Most of the songs are representative of traditional honky tonk music.[9] "Just a Wave, Not the Water" and "99 Holes" are covers of the Butch Hancock songs.[10][11] "White Freight Liner Blues" was written by Townes Van Zandt.[12] "Honky Tonk Masquerade" is a cover of the notable Ely song.[13] "Rain Just Falls" was written by Gilmore's guitarist, David Halley.[14] "Singing the Blues" is a version of the popular standard.[15]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[17]
Oakland Tribune[6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[14]

Trouser Press deemed the album "a warm, relatively brisk and surprisingly traditional comeback."[12] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that "Gilmore's high honky-tonk wail of a voice dances lightly over the superb backing of his band."[7] Spin concluded that, "between Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow at their oddball best, you'd probably rather listen to Jimmie Dale."[18]

The Houston Chronicle said that "Gilmore strays across his influences that came together in Lubbock as a teen-ager when West Texas honky-tonk country gave way to the big beat and velocity of this new thing, rock 'n' roll."[8] The Orange County Register determined that Gilmore "can offer a sound that is completely new yet still starkly and inarguably country."[19] The Los Angeles Times concluded that Gilmore's "nasal twang—similar to, but less laconic than Willie Nelson's—is plenty poetic in itself."[20] USA Today listed Fair & Square as the 4th best country album of 1988.[21]

AllMusic noted that "the subtle undercurrents of Gilmore's best material seem to have been left by the wayside, as if a coffeehouse singer/songwriter had been thrown into a dance hall and was trying to avoid getting the hook."[16]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLength
1."White Freight Liner Blues" 
2."Honky Tonk Masquerade" 
3."Fair & Square" 
4."Don't Look for a Heartache" 
5."Trying to Get to You" 
6."Singing the Blues" 
7."Just a Wave, Not the Water" 
8."All Grown Up" 
9."99 Holes" 
10."Rain Just Falls" 

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Jimmie Dale Gilmore Biography by Kurt Wolff". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  2. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (7 Feb 1988). "Pop Eye". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 83.
  3. ^ Joyce, Mike (22 Aug 1988). "Jimmie Dale Gilmore". The Washington Post. p. C7.
  4. ^ "Gilmore". Austin American-Statesman. 3 Jun 1988. p. D12.
  5. ^ Powell, Austin; Freeman, Doug, eds. (2011). The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology. University of Texas Press. p. 82.
  6. ^ a b Kelp, Larry (28 Feb 1988). "Recordings". Calendar. Oakland Tribune. p. 8.
  7. ^ a b Pick, Steve (4 Mar 1988). "2 Texans Carry On the Country Tradition". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. H5.
  8. ^ a b Racine, Marty (6 Mar 1988). "Records". Zest. Houston Chronicle. p. 11.
  9. ^ Dicaire, David (2014). The New Generation of Country Music Stars: Biographies of 50 Artists Born After 1940. McFarland, Inc. p. 58.
  10. ^ Trageser, Jim (26 Feb 1988). "Gilmore, Sun Rhythm, Dixon". San Diego Evening Tribune. p. C2.
  11. ^ Wykoff, David (3 Mar 1988). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  12. ^ a b "Jimmie Dale Gilmore". Trouser Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  13. ^ a b (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 331.
  14. ^ a b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 148, 149.
  15. ^ Zimmerman, Dave (3 Nov 1988). "Country". USA Today. p. 5D.
  16. ^ a b "Fair & Square Review by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  17. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 288.
  18. ^ Bull, Bart (Oct 1988). "The Last (Album) Roundup". Spin. Vol. 4, no. 7. p. 68.
  19. ^ Davis, Noel (11 Mar 1988). "The Flatlander's lead singer was Jimmie Dale Gilmore...". Orange County Register. p. P38.
  20. ^ Hochman, Steve (23 May 1988). "Wisdom, Wisecracks by Gilmore and Hancock". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
  21. ^ "Yoakam is tops, Bellamys not". USA Today. 13 Dec 1988. p. 5D.
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