Jimmie Dale Gilmore at AMSDConcerts
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
The incomparable Jimmie Dale Gilmore appears in a rare San Diego appearance at AMSDConcerts, (formerly Acoustic Music San Diego), at 4650 Mansfield Avenue in the old church venue, a perfect acoustic venue for Gilmore and his signature booming guitar. The show is 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 19. You can also take part in a signature feature of AMSDConcert shows – a chance to meet Gilmore at the break or after his set, and, in the words of Loudon Wainwright III, “After the show, folks say ‘thanks’ and ‘hello…. They proffer something to sign, or deliver a glib line……..for a night, or just an hour, for a bite or some kind of shower, they’ve got a plan; you understand.”
Gilmore is a Texas native, born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock. His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honky tonk brand of country music that his own father played in a bar band. In the 1950s, Gilmore immersed himself in the burgeoning rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by the Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade.
With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. The group has been performing on and off since 1972. The band’s first recording project, from the early 1970s, was a milestone of progressive, alternative country. The three friends continue to reunite for occasional Flatlanders performances.
In the 1980s, Gilmore moved to Austin and his first solo album, “Fair and Square,” was released in 1988. Gilmore’s fans admire his fine, piercing tenor voice, which delivers expressive, pure, country singing in a fashion known as “shape note singing.” Instead of the normal “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do” seven-note system, shape-singing uses the old four-note English system: “fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa.” You’ll hear it immediately when Gilmore starts singing.
Gilmore appeared in a brief but memorable role in the movie “The Big Lebowski,” and he’s also been a guest on Jay Leno, David Letterman, A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. In 2005 Gilmore released “Come on Back,” an album of songs his father loved. Gilmore said of the album, “This new album is a compilation of recordings of some old songs that my dad loved. I love them too, and it is a project very dear to me.”
You’ll hear cuts from that album at the AMSD show and a mix of songs from his past CD’s. Hope for “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” the old Hank Williams tear-jerker from Gilmore’s “Spinning Around the Sun” CD from 1993. Gilmore can hold those notes like no one I’ve ever heard and his phrasing and breaks are so pure and clean and downright sad it will bring tears to your eyes.
Tickets for the Jimmie Dale Gilmore show are $25 for rows 8 and up, and $52 for the dinner package, a full three-course meal at nearby DeMille’s on Adams Avenue, and seating in the first seven rows. For ticket reservations go to http://amsdconcerts.com/April.html.
Martha and the Vandellas at Anthology
Martha Reeves
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, one of the most successful girl groups (or ANY groups for that matter) on the Motown roster from 1963-1967 appear in concert at Anthology on Friday, April 6for two shows, at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. For the range of seating, minimums and dinner options, go to www.anthology.com
The Vandellas have a hard, edgy R&B sound, and their songs, “Jimmy Mack,”,“Dancing in the Street”, and “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave” became the signatures of their career. From 1963 to 1972, the group charted over twenty-five hits, including two R&B Billboard number ones. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the group 96th on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. In 1972, Martha Reeves left Motown and worked to establish herself as a solo singer/songwriter. She branched out from her R&B roots and sang jazz, country, gospel, blues, and classical music. She sang with such notables as Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, and Rance Allen, who began singing the gospel at age five.
In 1974, Reeves signed to MCA and released her critically acclaimed self-titled debut, “Martha Reeves.” She went on to record and perform for the next 30 years. In 2004, she released her self-produced CD, “Home to You,” and it was named one of the year’s best by the Asbury Park Press. Reeves just completed a four-year run as a member of the Detroit City Council, and now she’s back in the studio, and on tour and bringing audiences the music they missed in her absence.
Category: Music
