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Fair & Square
Fair & Square
Studio album by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Released	1988
Genre	Honky tonk
Label	HighTone
Producer	Joe Ely
Jimmie Dale Gilmore chronology

Fair & Square is the debut solo album by the American musician Jimmie Dale Gilmore, released in 1988.^[1]^[2] Gilmore supported the album with several live dates.^[3] The first single was "Trying to Get to You".^[4]

Production

The album was produced by Joe Ely, who also provided backing vocals.^[5]^[6] Gilmore was backed by his band, the Continental Drifters.^[7] Lloyd Maines contributed on steel guitar.^[8] Most of the songs are representative of traditional honky tonk music.^[9] "Just a Wave, Not the Water" and "99 Holes" are covers of the Butch Hancock songs.^[10]^[11] "White Freight Liner Blues" was written by Townes Van Zandt.^[12] "Honky Tonk Masquerade" is a cover of the notable Ely song.^[13] "Rain Just Falls" was written by Gilmore's guitarist, David Halley.^[14] "Singing the Blues" is a version of the popular standard.^[15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[16]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	^[17]
Oakland Tribune	^[6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[13]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10^[14]

Trouser Press deemed the album "a warm, relatively brisk and surprisingly traditional comeback."^[12] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that "Gilmore's high honky-tonk wail of a voice dances lightly over the superb backing of his band."^[7] Spin concluded that, "between Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow at their oddball best, you'd probably rather listen to Jimmie Dale."^[18]

The Houston Chronicle said that "Gilmore strays across his influences that came together in Lubbock as a teen-ager when West Texas honky-tonk country gave way to the big beat and velocity of this new thing, rock 'n' roll."^[8] The Orange County Register determined that Gilmore "can offer a sound that is completely new yet still starkly and inarguably country."^[19] The Los Angeles Times concluded that Gilmore's "nasal twang—similar to, but less laconic than Willie Nelson's—is plenty poetic in itself."^[20] USA Today listed Fair & Square as the 4th best country album of 1988.^[21]

AllMusic noted that "the subtle undercurrents of Gilmore's best material seem to have been left by the wayside, as if a coffeehouse singer/songwriter had been thrown into a dance hall and was trying to avoid getting the hook."^[16]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"White Freight Liner Blues"
2.	"Honky Tonk Masquerade"
3.	"Fair & Square"
4.	"Don't Look for a Heartache"
5.	"Trying to Get to You"
6.	"Singing the Blues"
7.	"Just a Wave, Not the Water"
8.	"All Grown Up"
9.	"99 Holes"
10.	"Rain Just Falls"

References

^ "Jimmie Dale Gilmore Biography by Kurt Wolff". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
^ Goldstein, Patrick (7 Feb 1988). "Pop Eye". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 83.
^ Joyce, Mike (22 Aug 1988). "Jimmie Dale Gilmore". The Washington Post. p. C7.
^ "Gilmore". Austin American-Statesman. 3 Jun 1988. p. D12.
^ Powell, Austin; Freeman, Doug, eds. (2011). The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology. University of Texas Press. p. 82.
^ ^a ^b Kelp, Larry (28 Feb 1988). "Recordings". Calendar. Oakland Tribune. p. 8.
^ ^a ^b Pick, Steve (4 Mar 1988). "2 Texans Carry On the Country Tradition". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. H5.
^ ^a ^b Racine, Marty (6 Mar 1988). "Records". Zest. Houston Chronicle. p. 11.
^ Dicaire, David (2014). The New Generation of Country Music Stars: Biographies of 50 Artists Born After 1940. McFarland, Inc. p. 58.
^ Trageser, Jim (26 Feb 1988). "Gilmore, Sun Rhythm, Dixon". San Diego Evening Tribune. p. C2.
^ Wykoff, David (3 Mar 1988). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
^ ^a ^b "Jimmie Dale Gilmore". Trouser Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 331.
^ ^a ^b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 148, 149.
^ Zimmerman, Dave (3 Nov 1988). "Country". USA Today. p. 5D.
^ ^a ^b "Fair & Square Review by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 288.
^ Bull, Bart (Oct 1988). "The Last (Album) Roundup". Spin. Vol. 4, no. 7. p. 68.
^ Davis, Noel (11 Mar 1988). "The Flatlander's lead singer was Jimmie Dale Gilmore...". Orange County Register. p. P38.
^ Hochman, Steve (23 May 1988). "Wisdom, Wisecracks by Gilmore and Hancock". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
^ "Yoakam is tops, Bellamys not". USA Today. 13 Dec 1988. p. 5D.