From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Feb 9, 2003  7:07 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Joe Ely
 
JOE ELY

Born 9 February 1947, Amarillo, Texas

I discovered Joe Ely's music in 1981, while visiting a friend who had just
bought the LP "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta" (already his fifth album, as I
discovered later). The title song is a wild rocker, almost Jerry Lee style.
It's still my favourite Ely track, but it's not really representative of Joe's
music, which is more country than rock 'n' roll. Above all, it's good honest
Texas music.
Born in Amarillo, Ely moved with his parents to Lubbock in 1959. At the
age of 16, he left Texas and spent some eight years mainly travelling in the
manner of a latterday Woody Guthrie, visiting various US states and also
coming to Europe, working at a variety of jobs, but always writing and
singing songs. He came back to Lubbock in the early seventies and ended
up living with two friends, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, both
singer-songwriters. This led to the formation of the Flatlanders, an informal
country-folk group. In 1972 they recorded one album for Shelby Singleton's
Plantation label, but it didn't go far and the band soon dissolved.
Around the mid-'70s, Ely formed an eclectic group who was able to swing
from Cajun and western to honky tonk stomps and rockabilly; they were
signed to MCA in 1977. Ely released an eponymous debut that year, using
songs written by ex-Flatlanders Gilmore and Hancock and throwing in some
of his own road-worn, oddly poetic originals. The next year brought Honky
Tonk Masquerade, perhaps the cornerstone of Ely's legacy. Further albums
(especially Live Shots, recorded during his European tour with the Clash)
brought Ely to the attention of rock fans and netted ecstatic reviews in country
and pop magazines (but, mysteriously, produced no hits). MCA dropped Ely
in 1984, and he woodshedded until 1987, when the independent Hightone label
signed him and released Lord of the Highway. Another Hightone album followed
before Ely re-signed with MCA in 1990, releasing another live set and Love and
Danger (1992), followed by the ambitious acoustic Letter To Laredo (1995).
Twistin' in the Wind followed in 1998, and Live at Antone's arrived two years
later.
Ely remains an energetic and passionate live performer and an occasionally
inspired songwriter.

CD recommendation: No Bad Talk Or Loud Talk, '77-'81 (Edsel EDCD 418).
18 tracks.