Texas Music News — August 10, 2026
Janet Gilmore, wife of Texas music legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore, is asking fans and friends to help stop border wall construction in Big Bend National Park. She posted a detailed action plan to Facebook on August 7, tagging the Flatlanders co-founder in a set of photos from a recent family trip through the park’s canyons and mountains.
“Many friends have been asking how to help stop the destruction of our Texas and National treasure, Big Bend National Park,” Gilmore wrote. “I’ve been asking the same thing. Here is my list so far and I hope people will add to it.”
Her post lays out six steps: vote in November for leaders who will stop the construction; call state and federal officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz; spread the word through the press and social media; visit the Big Bend region and support businesses working against the project; join the weekly demonstrations locals hold at the Study Butte crossroads; and donate to organizations fighting the construction.
A Musician’s Family With Deep West Texas Roots
Gilmore, a Lubbock native, co-founded The Flatlanders with Joe Ely and Butch Hancock before building a solo career on Texas honky-tonk and folk. He and Janet have long made West Texas’s open country part of their life on and off stage, and their post frames the fight over Big Bend as personal.
The post cites Republican sheriffs from the five counties bordering the park, who Gilmore says have stated no physical wall is needed given the natural barriers already in place. She also points to a letter signed by 140 Big Bend-area businesses asking Cornyn, Abbott and Cruz to halt the project, arguing it threatens a local economy built on tourism.
Details at Facebook