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"A tender highlight of the record, “Trying To Be Free” is a power-pop ballad that combines Orbison drama with soulful Memphis sway.” - Uncut While Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin were making their second collaborative album TexiCali, Gilmore happened to dust off an old reel-to-reel tape he'd long forgotten about with a song entitled "Trying To Be Free."Recorded in the mid-1960s while Gilmore was still playing coffee shops around Lubbock, TX, "Trying To Be Free" predates his hometown's booming and underrated singer-songwriter scene by about a decade, but its story involves perhaps the city's most famous musical export: Buddy Holly. After Buddy's untimely death in 1959, his parents became something of musical patrons in Lubbock, discovering a young Jimmie Dale Gilmore while he was performing around town. Buddy's father L.O. helped finance Gilmore's original recording of "Trying To Be Free," paving the way for Gilmore to break out in earnest with The Flatlanders by the early 1970s. Gilmore had forgotten all about “Trying To Be Free” when he found that old tape last year, but he brought it into his next recording session with Alvin, who loved the tune and began working with his backing band The Guilty Ones on a fresh arrangement. The result is a gripping ode to West Texas, musical beginnings, and the first people who believe in a dream.
“This song came from well before The Flatlanders,” remembers Gilmore. “It was on a demo I recorded with the T. Nickel House Band in the mid-sixties, financed by Buddy Holly’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. O. Holley. My wife Janet discovered it on an old reel-to-reel tape last year when she was organizing my archives. It was never on any of my commercially-released recordings and I had forgotten all about it, but Janet liked it and suggested I should show it to Dave. He and the band came up with a whole different treatment from the original recording and it became like a brand new song to me.”
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore with The Guilty Ones bring TexiCali on the road beginning this July kicking off with nine shows across California.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Birchmere, 3701 Mt Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA 22305-2408, United States,Alexandria, Virginia
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