Having a bite with the Flatlanders
By: Tom Lanham
Special to The Examiner
May 21, 2009
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| In from Texas: Country stalwarts Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore play Slim’s on Saturday. (Courtesy photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Zen-like songsmith Jimmie Dale Gilmore is quite an alt-country star in his own right. But every once in a while, he glimmers even brighter when he reconvenes with his old Texas chums Butch Hancock and Joe Ely as the Flatlanders. Backing their latest fifth outing, “Hills and Valleys,” they play San Francisco Saturday, with Gilmore’s son Colin opening the show.
Are you still teaching college courses? Yeah. Once a year, sometimes three times, at the Omega Institute in upstate New York. I teach songwriting in a specific context — I think the way we put it in the catalog is, “Songwriting as a tool for self-discovery.” Very new-agey!
NPR’s Kitchen Sisters just featured you in their “Hidden Kitchens” show and book, talking about Stubb’s Bar-B-Que. You met C.B. Stubblefield in the mid-1970s? Back when they started having this Sunday night jam there that just became an institution. It’d been going for a few weeks the first time I was there. But Stubbs and I really hit it off, and he just became a dear friend. Joe Ely and his wife are actually filming a documentary about him.
And you’re featured in a Kitchen Sisters cookbook, too? It’s just West Texas food, and it’s got some of my mom’s recipes in it, like this one for Nail Soup. It’s an old story, like a fairy tale, where the beggar comes to the door and says, “I have a magic nail that we can make soup with!” And once they’re boiling the nail, he says, “By the way, do you happen to have a potato?” Etcetera, until all the ingredients are in. But it’s a soup that my mom always made that I just loved. No actual nails were used, however. It’s just metaphorical.
What was your favorite Stubb’s dish? Well, now I’m vegetarian. But I really loved the brisket. So it’s been a good five years since I’ve had any barbecued beef. But occasionally I’ll have a little bit of barbecued chicken.
How difficult is it for the Flatlanders to all eat together? Well, we all like Thai food, and that’s fairly easy to find without meat. But it is difficult on the road. But Joe has this longstanding rule that he learned from John Prine, and it’s a good one: When you’re touring, the one thing that you must do every single day, if at all possible, is have one really good meal. — Of quality, in a great restaurant. So the Flatlanders really try to keep that up.
IF YOU GO
The Flatlanders
Where: Slim’s, 333 11th St., San Francisco
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $20
Contact: www.slimstickets.com
