Our latest Fan Site of the Month is Archives in Cowtown, a resource dedicated to the music of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Here are some thoughts from the site’s founder, Elliot Lankford…
I started the Archives in Cowtown almost five years ago. At the time I was fairly new to the world of the Flecktones. I’d been to one or two shows and I had downloaded one or two hundred more. Early that year, I set out to find touring information for a few of Bela’s solo shows, only to realize the information on Fleck’s touring (with the Flecktones and otherwise) was very limited. Being an avid Dave Matthews Band fan, I knew of the DMB Almanac, an amazing site dedicated to the touring history of one of the most popular acts around. The site features everything from setlists and song stats all the way to ticket stubs and posters. While I could never dream to have a site as extensive and detailed as the Almanac, I figured I could at least skim the surface.

The site was up and running in March of 2004 with a list of Flecktone shows dating back to their first show in 1988. Over the next few months I added setlist information for close to 1000 of those shows. In December I released the membership section, which allows members to track shows they have attended and collected. It also provides a forum for users to offer up shows via trade or B & P.
In 2005 when the Flecktones began their hiatus, the AiC began tracking Flecktone solo projects as well; making it still the only place to find tour dates for all of the Flecktones’ side projects.
Throughout the next 3 years the site expanded to include Flecktone guest appearances, downloads, recording sources, setlist scans, and two RSS feeds.
Thanks to generous donations from various Flecktone fans, I am able to renew the website each year and continue to update and expand as much as possible. I recently reopened the registration and began linking the recording sources to their respective locations on archive.org. My latest project has been a trivia section that I hope to complete before the end of this year. Until then, I hope you all enjoy the current features the site has to offer. Thank you all for your support!