Music
Press
"Colin goes his own way with a combination of energetic guitar pop and melodic twang. It leaves the listener wanting more." - Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle
Colin Gilmore's "The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way" is exactly what the record industry needs. The son of legendary Texas troubadour Jimmie Dale Gilmore has found his own voice as a songwriter and it's an impressive one. The younger Gilmore has decidedly different sensibilities than the West Texas zen approach of his father but he has a similar aptitude for expressing himself. - Michael Point, Round Rock Leader
" ...second-generation Flatlander Colin Gilmore, whose "The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way" gives great twang, blending the spirit of young bucks Jason Allen and Kevin Fowler with the wisdom of his Lubbock-reared elders - and a Clash cover!" - Chis Gray, Austin Chronicle
When your father is famed Americana rocker Jimmie Dale Gilmore, it's not likely you're going to grow up to become a Realtor or a dry cleaner. So it was with West Texas musician Colin Gilmore, who's following in his dad's twangy footsteps as a singer-songwriter.
The younger Gilmore grew up in Lubbock — he was the kid with a Mohawk in the choir — and then skedaddled for Austin, where he's become entrenched in the city's stellar Americana music scene.
Gilmore has an album and an EP thus far, is threatening more and, in fact, shared his disdain for any sort of day job during a recent phoner, discussing the latest, the strangest and the lowdown as to his 805 debut on Saturday at the Beachcomber in Oxnard.
@TO 1-Text Ragged Right no indent:You were the guy with the Mohawk in the choir?
I was the guy with the Mohawk in the choir. I sure was. It went over fine. My choir teacher liked the way I sang and I got in fewer fistfights than the other kids in the choir, so she was OK with the hair.
What does Colin Gilmore music sound like these days?
It's West Texas rock 'n' roll, basically, but it's got a flavor of rockabilly, punk, folk and a little bit of psychedelic.
What's the difference between country, county-rock and Americana or is it all the same thing these days?
I'm a little behind on the times on that one, but it seems to me that when people say "country'' these days, they're thinking of something pretty well polished and coming out of Nashville while Americana or alt-country could go anyplace. Some people call Jerry Jeff Walker Americana, or others when they hear the term "Americana'' think of Wilco or the Green Cards or Old 97's — something with an element of country in there but a little bit less defined. And now when you hear Top 40 country today, it sounds nothing like what I think of as country. It sounds more like classic rock with a twang.
What's happening in Lubbock? What kind of place is that?
Well, it's a place with a rich, rich history. Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings — there's a lot of people that kind of got started near there and are on the Walk of Fame there. I think Sonny Curtis might actually be from there. Roy Orbison is from Wink, out in West Texas, so Lubbock kind of has a little claim on him. Then there's the Flatlanders and Jimmy Gilmer, not Jimmy Dale Gilmore.
Yeah. Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs. They did "Sugar Shack.''
Yeah, he's on that Lubbock Walk of Fame there. Mac Davis also. He's on there.
Is your walk of fame like the stars we've got on the sidewalk in Hollyweird or what?
It's a big statue of Buddy Holly outside the convention center with plaques and all the people on them around it.
You live in Austin now?
Now I'm in Austin. You can come here and see live music any day of the week and you almost take it for granted because it's got so much live music in it.
Why do you suppose there are so many good musicians from Texas?
You know, I've never quite really understood that. I think there's a good blend of cultures here and the fact that it came out of the Wild West tradition made people hang on a little bit to that spirit of rebellion. I guess that outlaw mentality seems to work well for musicians.
Was being your father's son a good thing, a bad thing or does it matter? And what sort of advice has he given you?
It's been a very good thing. He's always been very supportive and always urged me to play music that I like, I respect and I believe in and not go for whatever is popular and might make a quick buck. But I think the biggest influence he has on me was introducing me to so much good music, especially the really old music that he's always listened to.
Any extra-strange gigs?
I played a strange one in Stanwood, Wash., once. We played at a fair pretty much in the dark, between a haunted house and a Spammobile. They were passing out free samples of Spam — they called them Spamples. I think the youngest member of the audience was 80 years old.
How do you handle the drunks who insist you play "Free Bird''
We can honestly say that we don't know it. We purposely didn't learn it. We let Lynyrd Skynyrd take care of that. In fact, I got to hear them play the last solo of "Free Bird'' the other night and you know what? They do it just fine.
Tell me about this Oxnard gig.
Been bookin' my own shows, actually, and a friend of mine who is a firefighter in Oxnard told me about this place and put me in touch with them. I've got a band back home, but right now it's just me, so the tour's gonna be a solo. I'm hoping to bring the band back next year. I'm definitely hoping to hit the West Coast several times a year.
What's the master plan?
My plan is ultimately to play music all my life and make a living doing it and to touch as many hearts as I can and give people a really good time. My short-range goal is to step up what I have been doing. I want to make another album sooner than later and I'm looking to co-write and record with Scott Matthews in Mill Valley.
Who goes to your shows?
I've seen everybody. I do pride myself on having pulled in fans that have never heard of me or anything and are all across the spectrum — a bunch of different colors, ages and musical backgrounds. I have people that come to my gigs in walkers and carrying oxygen tanks and I have little kids, teenagers and 20-year-olds.
Do you play any of your dad's songs?
Yeah, I do a couple of them every once in a while. I'm pretty selective about it, but here and there, especially if it's a crowd that I think I might be introducing them to his music, then I might do a song or two of his.
— E-mail music writer Bill Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/nov/01/happy-gilmore/
- Ventura County Star
Colin Gilmore
Aladdin Theater | 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 233-1994 [map]
[ALT-COUNTRY] The LaurelThirst Pub’s talent pool may be deep, but it’s not exactly wide; usually, the storied eastside watering hole books local acts only. But tonight, the venue extends its stage to a visitor from Portland’s musical big-sister city of Austin. Gilmore was born into the Texan music mafia—the son of Lubbock legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore—but takes his dad’s reedy twang and spins it more in the direction of Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano’s adenoidal bleat. Likewise, he takes his dad’s comic-cum-cosmic cowboy lyrical trip one more step into absurdo-realism on songs like “The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way.” JEFF ROSENBERG. LaurelThirst Public House. 9:30 pm. $5. 21+
http://wweek.com/calendar/music/index.php?date=1195027200 - Willamette Week
Discography
Currently working on a new album "Goodnight Lane" for 2010. Lloyd Maines co-producing.
Songwriter for "The Way We Are" recorded on upcoming The Flatlanders album "Hills and Valleys" set for release in March 2009.
"4 of No Kind"- Four song EP self-released in 2002
"The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way"- Debut album released by Squirm Records in 2004 Features Audrey Auld on Vocals.
The Song, "The You that I Knew" is frequently played on XM Satellite Radio.
"Black Wine"- Self-released 4 song EP initially released in Japan, but now available on iTunes and at live shows in the US. Produced by Colin Gilmore and Scott Mathews. 2007.
Photos
Bio
"A West Texas Nick Lowe"- Sylvie Simmons, Mojo Magazine
Austin singer-songwriter Colin Gilmore is building his reputation the old-fashioned way: hard work and imagination. He and his new wife’s idea of the perfect honeymoon was a tour of Japan, where he played eight cities in 10 days, complete with a different backing band at each gig. He has recently toured the west coast, played the Old Town Art Fair in Chicago, and played an online interactive concert at Mike Nesmith’s Videoranch. The Flatlanders included Gilmore’s song “The Way We Are” on their latest album "Hills and Valleys." It quickly became the album's number one selling song on iTunes.
“I’m getting out there and doing it,” says Gilmore, who was invited last year to open for pals Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines, two Grammy-winning members of Austin’s musical royalty, at the Columbus (Ohio) Performing Arts Center. He was particularly thrilled with the reception he got at a song swap with a few other Austin notables: Ruthie Foster and Grammy winners Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) and Joel Guzman (Los Super Seven, etc.). “I felt like I was in my element and made a real connection with the crowd,” he recalls.
Gilmore’s self-described blend of “West Texas-style rock, with a country/punk/psychedelic/pop edge,” is also earning him a fan base – and airplay – nationally (including stations like KPIG-FM, no less). In California he played camp ground radio broadcasts at the Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite and made more than 15,000 new fans at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco (they loved “The You That I Knew”). He played at that event – and toured the country – with yet another Austin musical blueblood: his father, Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
“I don’t capitalize on his name, but he is my dad,” says Gilmore. “I’m happy to be his son and I feel very fortunate. But fans won’t stick around for music that doesn’t speak to them. You have to earn it every day. ”
Gilmore was raised in the musically rich town of Lubbock, where he was influenced by family friends Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, as well as Terry Allen and the late Jesse Taylor. (Allen’s son, Bukka, played on Gilmore’s debut album, The Day the World Stopped and Spun the Other Way.) But it was his mother, singer Debbie Fields, who really encouraged his early musical development. His step-dad, fiddler Richard Bowden, also had an influence. And so, of course, did Buddy Holly, the Lubbock legend whose rockabilly spirit has infused Gilmore’s sound. You can hear Holly’s impact (and that of other Texas troubadours – and Tornadoes) in Gilmore’s “Laughing Hard or Crying?” and “Time to Fly Away Again.”
But that aforementioned edge was sharpened by other influences: the Clash, the Ramones, the Pogues, the Sex Pistols. (You could easily pick him out in his high school choir photo. Just look for the Mohawk.) Somewhere along the way, he also discovered Lucinda Williams. And Johnny Cash. And Leonard Cohen. Not to mention Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, the guys Gilmore studied while minoring in classical music (and majoring in anthropology) at Texas State University.
A more recent influence is Bay Area producer Scott Mathews, an industry legend whose resume includes the names Clapton, Jagger, Richards, Orbison, Costello, Hiatt, Santana, Joey Ramone and Brian Wilson. After a phone conversation, Gilmore sent Mathews his first recording, an EP titled Four of No Kind. Mathews liked what he heard and invited Gilmore to visit so they could try writing and recording together.
“I flew up there and in three working days we co-wrote and recorded three songs, playing everything ourselves,” Gilmore says. They co-produced an EP, Black Wine, for the Japan tour, and plan to work together again soon. (Raves Mathews: “The world doesn't need yet another singer-songwriter – it needs Colin Gilmore. In my world, he's the one.”)
Gilmore has also written with Nashville’s Jon Tiven, who has produced Wilson Pickett, B.B. King and the Pixies’ Frank Black; and has written hits for Robert Cray and Buddy Guy. Gilmore’s song, an homage to his uncle Allen, who died the same day as Johnny Cash, is titled “Raindrops in July.” Willie Nelson’s A&R rep thought it would be perfect for him (So do we. Are you listening, Willie?).
But, hey, he knows better than to be in a hurry.
“I’m not set on instant success,” says Gilmore. “I’m in it for the long haul. I’m fortunate I got to hear from a very early age what real, heartfelt, good music was.”
Fortunately for us, Colin’s now making his own.
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