The Flatlanders

The 1990 Flatlanders compilation wasn't called More a Legend Than a Band for nothing. In the early '70s, they were briefly one of the first and most important acts to come out of the nascent Texas singer/songwriter community, comprising three tunesmiths who approached country music with a unique spirit of freedom and unpretentious literacy. In time, the group's key members -- Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock -- would become stars in their own right, and in the 2000s the trio reunited on-stage and in the recording studio, periodically working together from then on. 2024's All American Music preserved the 1972 recordings that first made the Flatlanders cult heroes, 2002's Now Again was a reunion set that found them still welcome collaborators, and 2021's Treasure of Love showed they could still make magic after almost 50 years together.