Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Spinning Around the Sun (Elektra) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Already in his mid-40s when he recorded “After Awhile,” his major-label debut in 1991, Gilmore brings a lived-in resonance to his music that eludes callower upstarts working similar territory (Dwight Yoakam anyone?). Although often lumped in the progressive wing of country, more than anything for his mellifluous near-yodel of a voice, Gilmore actually belongs in a class of singers-Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and his pal Joe Ely-who treat the American songbook as a continuum and effortlessly blur the boundaries between country, blues, soul, pop and what have you. Gilmore is no match for the early Elvis-his cover of Presley’s “I Was the One” is the sole disappointment on this otherwise masterful album. But his audacious, dirge-tempo version of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” more than does justice to the classic original, and he’s always had a great feel for the blues (the jumping “Mobile Line”). But it’s when he digs into songs by contemporaries such as Butch Hancock (the classic “Just a Wave”) and Jo Carol Pierce, as well as his rare, jewel-like originals, that Gilmore affirms he’s one of the greats.
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