Heirloom Music

Jimmie Dale Gilmore | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 10, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Redeye Label
• ASIN: B004V3H7MG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,807 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

For some time Jimmie Dale Gilmore has been wanting to go back to a time before country music got really commercialized and he saw
his opportunity with The Wronglers. He and Warren Hellman (founder and benefactor of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival) have joined forces to make Heirloom Music, an album of early twentieth century, folk-rooted country music featuring material from the likes Charlie Poole, the Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Bob Wills and the Delmore Brothers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars New Life Breathed into "Heirloom Music" May 16, 2011

By Timothy Yap TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:MP3 Music

Prime Cuts: I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes, I Wonder Where You Are Tonight, Big Rock Candy Mountain

Terminologies and genres are caricatures when it comes to describing the music found on this new disc. Though it is imbued with a bluegrass backing, the sui genesis of these songs date back to such ancient times of the 1930s and 1940s. And to call these paeans "bluegrass" would be anachronistic. Thus, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Wronglers have decided to call such a style as "heirloom music." Despite the age of these songs, Gilmore and his cohorts have been able to re-live to these old-timeys that they allow us to hear them with new ears and they were able find untapped veins into old classics such as Bill Monroe's "Uncle Pen," Lead Belly's "In the Pines," and the Delmore Brothers' "Brown Ferry's Blues." Though "Heirloom Music" is Gilmore's second covers CD following his last outing 2005's "Come On Back," this disc differs from his predecessor in two ways. First, it abandons the rock feel of "Come on Back" and this is certainly bluegrass-y in its sonic execution. Second, what sets this disc apart is the presence of the Wronglers. For the unacquainted, a word about the Wronglers is in order. Headed by billionaire Warren Hellman on vocals and banjo, the Wronglers is an old time sextet formed in 2005. Not only is their picking here impeccable especially Krista Martin's animated fiddling but Heidi Clare is found singing harmony with Gilmore right through the record. Her searing self-recriminations that has a striking similarity to Emmylou Harris is a delightful treat in itself.

When Gilmore was described as the voice that would make Hank Williams Sr cry, you know that that's more than just mere rhetoric when you listen to his rendition of the ballad "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes." Wrapping in warbled vocals over each note, Glmore delivers a tear-stained performance here that truly is sublime. Though Alison Krauss still delivers the best version of oft-covered "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," Gilmore's version is a close rival--the way he eloquently emphasizes the singer's pin, even wallowing in it is just glorious. Despite its mirthful melody, "Way Downtown" a tune often associated with Doc Watson, is a sober tale that explores the meaning of life in a very poignant way.

One acute observation about these ancient tunes is how much many of these songs are structured around well-told stories. In order to sing them well, one has to be first a good storyteller. Gilmore proves that he's a great narrator when he gets us to re-live the story in "Footprints in the Snow," a morose tale of death and heartbreak. Gilmore again showcases his narrative skills as he grips our attention keeping us on the edge of our seats as he tells with great imaginative skills the murder tale of "Leavin' Home." Prepare for some delightful harmony vocals from Wronglers' Heidi Clare as she brings a rousing support to a lonesome Gilmore as he bewails the lost of his girl on "In the Pines."

No old time album would be perfect without a Gospel tune. Album closer "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is an interesting addition. Often associated with Harry McClintock, "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a song about heaven without the streets of gold or the silver-winged angels. Rather, it's heaven told from the perspective of a hobo where heaven will be a place where cops have wooden legs and bulldogs have rubber teeth. It's a song that will prick our conscience of how much we have and what some in our society are without. This is a song that must be on the list of "must hear." In summary, "Heirloom Music" is an enjoyable record with songs that deal with a diversity of issues often dressed in well-crafted melodies performed in a way that is engaging and real.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow! May 20, 2011

By SF

Format:Audio CD

I disagree with Sound/Word Enthusiast. Jimmie Dale Gilmore was born to sing this stuff, and in his interview in March with Terry Gross he called it his first love. That amazing voice, this material, and an old-timey string band sound were all made for each other. When you listen to this collection you can hear that everyone involved was having a good time, and so do you. So the performance isn't as tight as Bela Fleck or Flatt and Scruggs, it shouldn't be. This was music written (or written down) for amateurs to sing and play for themselves. I hope for more of this, the supply of material is endless. It's not a perfect collection, but I have too much fun listening to it to pick nits, though I do have to say that Warren Hellman did not make a billion dollars by singing.

53 of 65 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The latest tangent in an increasingly tangental career... May 14, 2011

By Sound/Word Enthusiast

Format:Audio CD

...it's hard to know what goes on in Jimmie Dale Gilmore's brain these days, really. Of late, his artistic decisions have been puzzling. And by "of late," I mean basically the last decade or so. Largely flying under the radar through the '70s and '80s, he was on a remarkably sustained creative upswing through the nineties, with a trio of Elektra albums that saw him brilliantly reconciling his Lubbock western/country roots with a unique sort of post-hippie futurism, excelling as both a nuanced interpreter and as a songwriter. He peaked with "One Endless Night," his surprising collaboration with Buddy Miller, that seamlessly encompassed everything from '60s head music to rockabilly to Kurt Weill.

But that's where the picture gets hazy...his followup to "One Endless Night" was a well-intentioned but toothless and strangely detached set of country covers, rather underproduced by Joe Ely (who's been similarly coasting of late). That brings us to this puzzling little collection. Jimmie Dale and a mix of amateur and pro musicians, produced by (of all people) former Frank Black/Captain Beefheart sideman Eric Drew Feldman (of whom I'm a big fan), picking out pleasant folky stringband versions of standard folky stringband songs.

The elaborate, quasi-monumental packaging (the disk comes in a mini-hardback book, with many pages of old-timey photos of the participants--but no information about the intentions or motivations behind the sessions) is at odds with what is a very humble product. The music is warm and comfy, lived-in, but not heavy. The musicians are neither razor sharp nor sloppy, and there seems to be little to no ambition in the mix. It is what it is: Jimmie Dale singing plain versions of very common songs.

A singer as arresting as Jimmie Dale is always going to be worth listening to, but I can't see myself returning to this very often. The backing is neither amateurish enough to be interesting, nor tight enough to throw off any sparks. The musicians don't challenge Gilmore, and as such his vocals are enjoyable but hardly revelatory (which we know he's capable of). The repertoire is so common as to be uninteresting: these are songs that, at this point, either need to be deeply felt or somehow reinvented, and neither happens here. As the first album in six years from a very major voice, it's baffling. On its own terms however, it's pleasant enough.