Joe Ely Band

Texas troubadour Joe Ely spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s, laying the roots of the country-rock fusion so popular in today's Americana music; of course, Ely didn't do it single-handedly, but he definitely did his part-stepping up with memorable recordings like Tennessee's Not The State I'm In, Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown, She Finally Spoke Spanish To Me and Settle For Love. Since then he's become an Americana icon, the country-rocker who's never left the road, cranking out album after album, some better, some worse, always solid. Not only is Joe Ely a giant of Texas music, but he's had a genre-crossing career including performances with Bruce Springsteen, tours with Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Guy Clark, and back in 1978, a cross-border foray with none other than The Clash. He formed cult Americana band The Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock in the early 1970s, as the continuation of a musical career that began early.

Joe Ely's brand of personal, hard-edged roots music keeps getting rediscovered by generations of punks, country neo-traditionalists and rockabilly revivalists, but he has scrupulously avoided mainstream success. In reality he was too 'rough around the edges' for mainstream success, but he's enjoyed a long and fruitful career despite all that. Where several similar mavericks have been chewed up and spat out by the major labels, Ely has emerged from the experience fairly unscathed and with his musical integrity very much intact. His own songs are earthy and intensely emotional, and he sings them with more than a hint of tortured insolence. The music he makes has its roots in Texas barn dance music with a band sound that is cool, swinging, and an impressive drive led by sharp guitars filled out by steel, piano and accordion while never losing the eloquent wind-blown lyricism of the flatlands. He is a country-rock renegade who has matured musically without losing one ounce of the grit, passion and excitement that marked his formative years. Alan Cackett –Maverick