Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ELY, Joe

(b 9 February 1947, Amarillo TX) Country-rock singer. In an Amarillo Pontiac dealer's parking lot Ely saw Jerry Lee Lewis pounding on a piano on a flatbed trailer in a dust storm: 'It was more than terrifying; it gave me a direction to follow.' He moved to Lubbock at eleven; later worked clubs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, toured Europe with a theatrical group, worked with a circus in the Southwest USA. He was a founder member of an acoustic country band the Flatlanders, with singer/songwriters Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, described the group as 'a kind of missing link' in West Texas music: an album was made in Nashville, not released until One Road More '80 on Charly UK, then on CD as More A Legend Than A Band '90 on Rounder).

Ely formed his own band and built a reputation in Texas for a mixture of Tex-Mex, honky tonk, blues, a rock'n'roll touch: Texas music. (The band included steel guitarist Lloyd Maines, later on Mercury in Maines Brothers Band, then a Grammy-winning producer.) He signed to MCA '77, made acclaimed LP Joe Ely including minor hit 'All My Love'. Highly regarded in Texas and Europe, he failed to make a breakthrough in the USA because his music fits none of the categories which radio programmers rely on. Other LPs included Honky Tonk Masquerade '78 (an Ely title song; the album also included Gilmore's 'Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown'); Down On The Drag '79 (produced by Bob Johnston). The UK band the Clash featured him as a guest on a UK tour; he leaned to the rock side with Musta Notta Gotta Lotta '81 (including Gilmore's 'Dallas'); Live Shots '80 was made in London. He toured in Linda Ronstadt's backup; locked himself away in a studio for three years and produced High Res '84, with synth technology harnessed to C&W roots.

He made what would have been his seventh MCA album but chose to leave the label; his touring band in mid-1986 included saxophonist Bobby Keyes and Austin guitarist David Grissom; Chicago critic Don McLeese wrote that whoever signed him next would get him at his peak: 'Just when you think you've got him pegged as a modern Buddy Holly, he dives deep into the mystic and comes up sounding like a Texas Van Morrison.' Lord Of The Highway '87 came out on Hightone. After Dig All Night '88 on Demon/Hightone (whipped along by Grissom's guitar) he returned to MCA with Live At Liberty Lunch '90 and had Nashville producer Tony Brown working with him on Love And Danger '92; Letter To Laredo '95 included guests Gilmore and Bruce Springsteen, and found him dropping the rock style for a more rootsy album that gained rave reviews. No Bad Talk Or Loud Talk '95 was a compilation of MCA tracks on Edsel in UK. Twistin' In The Wind '98 on MCA Nashville included Maines, and was another distillation of US Southern music.