The sold-out crowd at the Southgate House Saturday witnessed the end of another chapter in the strange and unlikely story of the Flatlanders.

        The West Texas “supergroup” of singer-songwriters Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely closed out its 2002 tour at the Newport club with a show marked by several rollicking moments.

        That there is a 2002 Flatlanders tour is a story in itself. Earier this year, the band released Now Again, a follow-up to its 1972 debut. Nothing like a 30-year span between records.

        Since 1972, each of the Flatlanders has made his mark individually. Mr. Ely, a country-styled singer with a rock 'n roll heart, has had the biggest career, which took off in the late '70s. Mr. Hancock is a prolific songwriter who has been Mr. Ely's on-again, off-again muse. Mr. Gilmore resurfaced in the '90s, earning critical acclaim for his haunting voice and dreamy lyrics.

        The show wasn't intended as competition, and the lead-vocal duties were divided in equal thirds, but Mr. Ely was the star. He didn't try to steal the show. He can't help it. Mr. Hancock is known primarily as a songwriter for a reason, and Mr. Gilmore has an interesting voice, but it comes off as novelty compared to Mr. Ely's, which is among the greatest of modern-day honky tonk.

        Backed by a three-piece electric band, the Flatlanders strummed acoustic guitars and swapped the verses and songs that have made them near-famous.

        The best was the old stuff. They began with “I Had My Hopes Up High,” from Mr. Ely's solo debut, before playing nine-straight new songs. Those were nice, but the show didn't begin to peak until Mr. Hancock's old “West Texas Waltz,” to which he added an R-rated rhyme about baseball.

        Then Mr. Ely took over. He sang lead on “Gimmie a Ride to Heaven,” Terry Allen's tale of drinking beers with the hitch-hicking Son of God, and it brought down the room. From there to the end, with two encores along the way, they rotated lead vocals from verse to verse, and Mr. Ely's turns were always the most exciting. He's a rocker matched with folkies, so he's bound to out-sing them. Without trying he took command of Mr. Gilmore's “Dallas,” of Mr. Hancock's “If You Were a Bluebird,” of a two-step rendition of “Sitting on Top of the World,” and of “Oh Boy” by Buddy Holly, another West Texas country-rock-straddling show stealer.

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