Pop Music : Some Tender Tunes by Gilmore and Hancock at McCabe’s

It’s hard to remember sometimes that gentle Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock--who shared an acoustic bill Friday at McCabe’s--were once in the same band with tireless rocker and fellow Texan Joe Ely.

Ely has recorded several Gilmore and Hancock tunes, a number of which were sung by their authors Friday. Gilmore also does a couple of those tunes on his own marvelous new album, “After Awhile,” and it’s no less than revelatory to hear them as originally conceptualized.

Whereas earthy Ely made “Treat Me Like a Saturday Night” sound sly and racy, Gilmore’s lovely and tender tones--reminiscent in moments of Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and even Rudy Vallee--gave each slow, soft syllable its own crescendo and decrescendo.

His high whine is either of the ‘40s or of another world.

After individual sets, the co-headliners returned to Ely-trod territory with duets on Gilmore’s “Dallas” and Hancock’s “If You Were a Bluebird.”

The encores neatly illustrated the difference between their own writing styles--Gilmore’s, timeless and deceptively simple; Hancock’s, a little more counterculture-cerebral.