(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The legendary Texas trio the Flatlanders – featuring original members Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock – and famed roots-musician/songwriter Tim O’Brien bookend a weekend of country- and folk-music talent at Club Helsinki Hudson. O’Brien performs on Friday, April 12, 2013, at 9pm, and the Flatlanders perform on Sunday, April 14, at 8pm, with special guest Joe Pug.

Back in 1972, a newly formed grassroots band The Flatlanders traveled to Tommy Allsup’s Odessa, Texas, studio at the urging of a local radio DJ. The 14 songs recorded on reel-to-reel tape arguably marked the birth of alternative country music. Although the group performed together for about a year, by the end of 1973 they disbanded. Each member went on to enjoy a successful solo career, and fans began pining for the work of the trio, and so the aptly titled More a Legend Than a Band, featuring tracks recorded in 1972, was released by Rounder Records in 1991. For the last decade and a half, the trio has occasionally reunited for brief tours and recording projects.

Tim O’Brien was first inspired to pick up an instrument and sing upon hearing Bob Dylan in the 1960s. By the 1970s, commanding guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello as well as singing and writing, he fronted the popular bluegrass revival band Hot Rize. O’Brien’s presence – be it as a bandleader, songwriter, mentor, instrumentalist, or vocalist – has been strongly felt not only in his own rich music, but in the many recordings of his songs by such artists as the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Nickel Creek, Kathy Mattea, the New Grass Revival, and the Seldom Scene, and in his recorded collaborations with Steve Martin, the Chieftains, and innumerable others.

Most recently, O’Brien has been performing before capacity crowds in the band of Mark Knopfler, who described O’Brien as “a master of American folk music, Irish music, Scottish music – it doesn’t matter.”

For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800