When you put three amazing songwriters and performers together in what by anyone’s standards could be called a supergroup, there’s bound to be fireworks, in all the figurative ways you can imagine. Most often, these collaborations burn out as quickly as those fireworks, some burning brightly, others fizzling disappointingly. Rarely do any of these collaborations last for more than one or two albums, but the Flatlanders are the exception to the rule.

Made up of three of the most accomplished and heralded Texas songwriters - Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock - the band has been an institution since its inception in 1970. Now, granted, their new set “Hills and Valleys” is only their fourth album in all that time, but the infrequency of their releases has no bearing on the quality of the material therein. The three have managed, despite spending as much time telling tales as agreeing on a lyric, to produce eight joint efforts, which are augmented by two Ely songs, one Hancock tune, one written by Gilmore’s son, Colin, and, just for good measure, a classic Woody Guthrie tune which serves as a representation of the album’s general theme, as Hancock puts it: “"the ups-and-downs, emotionally, of peoples’ lives these days.”

They didn’t set out with an agenda, but what Ely calls “the heavy-dutiness” of the last eight years colored their writing. The album is very topical, with songs like “Homeland Refugee,” “After The Storm,” and “Borderless Love,” which form a trilogy of sorts. Musically, the talents of all three songwriters are prevalent, making this album a delightful listening experience.

Ely sums up the philosphy behind their creativity: “We might as well write music and make songs up, because there’s not anything that we’d rather be doing.”
Music lovers worldwide are grateful.

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