Dave Alvin And Jimmie Dale Gilmore Retrace Their Musical Beginnings On "Trying To Be Free" - A Long-Lost Gilmore Demo, First Recorded For Buddy Holly's Parents

New Fall Dates Announced On Alvin And Gilmore's "We're Still Here" U.S. Tour 

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. Described as “a power-pop ballad that combines Orbison drama with soulful Memphis sway” (Uncut), “Trying To Be Free” 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.” 

Listen to “Trying To Be Free” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQHKIm9l2pI 

Preview TexiCali here (out June 21 on Yep Roc Records): https://ffm.to/texicalialbum 

“Trying To Be Free” follows the release of Alvin and Gilmore’s original collaboration “We’re Still Here,” a blistering and triumphant ode to all they’ve overcome which was named Today’s Top Tune by KCRW earlier this month. The musical partners have also shared “Southwest Chief” from their new album TexiCali, a powerful homage to touring via train, and their tourmates gone too soon. TexiCali features more original collaborations between the two Americana legends than ever before as Alvin and Gilmore retrace their decades on the road, working with contemporaries like Terry Allen and Butch Hancock, and formative shows from blues legends like Brownie McGhee. Together, they build on a close-knit partnership that’s already delivered them a Billboard #1 blues album (2018’s Downey To Lubbock), a spotlight on CNN and the friendship of a lifetime. 

With the release of “Trying To Be Free,” Alvin and Gilmore have also announced more North American dates for this Fall, expanding the aptly-titled We’re Still Here Tour into November. The tour will begin this July in Alvin’s native California, before swinging through Gilmore’s home state of Texas and the rest of the U.S., including the near-instant sellouts in Berwyn, IL at Fitzgerald’s Sept 13 and New York’s City Winery on August 27. 

TexiCali Tracklist:

1. Borderland

2. Southwest Chief

3. Broke Down Engine

4. Trying To Be Free

5. Blind Owl

6. Death Of The Last Stripper

7. Roll Around

8. Betty And Dupree

9. That’s Why I’m Walking

10. Down The 285

11. We’re Still Here

“We’re Still Here” Tour Dates: 

July 6 - Nicasio, CA - Rancho Nicasio 

July 7 - Nicasio, CA - Rancho Nicasio 

July 9 - Arcata, CA - Arcata Theater Lounge

July 11 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre

July 12 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern

July 13 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern

July 14 - Mount Vernon, WA - Lincoln Theatre

July 17 - Chico, CA - Chico Women’s Club

July 18 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel

July 19 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow’s

July 20 - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe’s Alley

July 21 - Morro Bay, CA - The Siren

July 23 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up

July 24 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour

July 26 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre

July 27 - Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum 

August 1 - Houston, TX - The Heights Theater

August 2 - Austin, TX - The 04 Center

August 3 - Dallas, TX - The Kessler Theater

August 4 - San Antonio, TX - Sam’s Burger Joint

August 21 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse

August 22 - Brownfield, ME - Stone Mountain Arts Center

August 23 - Boston, MA - City Winery

August 24 - Fall River, MA - Take Me to the River

August 25 - Woodstock, NY - Levon Helm Studios

August 27 - New York, NY - City Winery (Sold Out)

August 28 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live 

August 29 - Alexandria, VA - Birchmere

August 30 - Richmond, VA - Tin Pan

August 31 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle

September 10 - Minneapolis, MN - The Cedar

September 11 - Madison, MN - Barrymore Theatre

September 12 - Milwaukee, WI - Vivarium

September 13 - Berwyn, IL - Fitzgerald’s (Sold Out)

September 15 - Pomeroy, OH - Fur Peace Ranch (Sold Out)

September  19 - Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley at Americana Festival

October 23 -  Homer, NY - Center For The Arts

October 25 - Buffalo, NY - Sportsmen's Grill

October 26 - Pittsburgh, PA - City Winery

October 27 - Charleston, WV - Mountain Stage 

October 29 - Columbus, OH - Natalies Grandview

October 30 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark

October 31 - Cleveland, OH - Music Box

November 1 - Three Oaks, MI - Acorn Theatre

November 2 - Chicago, IL - City Winery

February 22-28 - Outlaw Country Cruise - 2025