Artist: Joe Ely
Column from web archive November 5, 2008
Chicago, by way of Austin
If anyone knows the way from Austin to Chicago, it’s Alejandro Escovedo. The Texas veteran’s recent gig at Park West extended his amazing streak of playing more different venues in the Windy City than even most artists who live here have played. Since he first reached these shores with Rank And File in the early [...]
Miked - Live Reviews from Issue #69 May-June 2007
Lyle Lovett – State Theatre (Cleveland, OH)
You have to start at the end — where they paid respects to Townes Van Zandt, the songwriter/compadre who captured the essence of life after being on the lam in “Pancho & Lefty” with the snippet, “The desert’s quiet and Cleveland’s cold.” Indeed it was cold, very cold, in downtown Cleveland the night Guy Clark, [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #68 Mar-Apr 2007
Joe Ely – Still running the tables
There was yet something boyish about him as he stood taking leave of the family. He stood in the frame that had always contained him, the great circular frame of the plains, with the wind blowing the grey hair at his temples and the whole of the Llano Estacado at his back. When he smiled [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #46 July-Aug 2003
Joe Ely – Streets Of Sin
Everything in a person’s life, James Baldwin once wrote, “depends upon how that life accepts its limits.” This is especially easy to appreciate when we think of recording artists, the greatest of whom almost always are significantly limited but have embraced the uniqueness of their limitations in order to create distinctive art. Even the finest [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #15 May-June 1998
Joe Ely – Twistin’ In The Wind
Since re-signing with his old label MCA in 1990, Joe Ely has released a string of solid albums, and Twistin’ In The Wind, his new disc, is no exception. Dig yourself down into the words and the music — especially the wonderful instrumental work twisting and turning through every song — and it’s clear that [...]
Miked - Live Reviews from Issue #5 Sept-Oct 1996
Joe Ely / Rosie Flores / Sonny Burgess – Chicago Country Music Festival, Grant Park (Chicago, IL)
The programmers of the sixth annual Chicago Country Music Festival probably weren’t consciously trying to illustrate the dichotomy between mainstream country and alternative country, but they sure did a fine job of it. On this sweltering Saturday afternoon, there were two free, simultaneous shows. Nashville stars Tracy Lawrence, Patty Loveless, and Keith Gattis played their [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #1 Fall 1995
Joe Ely – Letter to Laredo
The first clue that Joe Ely is up to something different on Letter to Laredo is in the thank-you credits, where the Lubbock legend tips his hat to writers Garcia Lorca, Michael Ventura and Cormac McCarthy. The next clue is the disc’s second track, a cover of Tom Russell’s “Gallo del Cielo”, which clocks in [...]
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