| Check out Joe Ely's TWO NEW releases on Rack em' Records
The first release, "Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch" features tales of several earnest characters he has encountered during 40 years of rambling journeys. It’s an energetic, full band release, with contributions from many of the great musicians he has had the pleasure to play with over the years, including David Grissom, Donald Lindley, Rob Gjersoe, Mitch Watkins,
Jimmy Pettit, Glenn Fukunaga, and many more. All of the songs on that release have never been released on any of his previous works. They are all new arrangements, although some of recording sessions with the musicians listed above, were in past years, this is the first time that he has been able to complete the recordings and actually release them. Joe considers, "Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch" to be a companion piece to the book he has just written entitled, Bonfire of Roadmaps,. Bonfire of Roadmaps is a collection of "poemblogs", that will be published this month by University of Texas Press, and the stories he tells on the album related directly to the experiences he writes about in the book.
The second release, "Silver City", is what Joe considers to be a catalog item. It is a companion acoustic album, and is comprised entirely of songs he penned during the very beginning of his career as a songwriter. These songs were written even before the first Flatlander release and only 2 of them have been on previous Joe Ely releases. Even though they are some of his earliest works as a songwriter, all of the songs on the album were actually recorded in his studio within the last year and a half. Legendary accordionist, Joel Guzman, accompanies him on the CD and these are all newly arranged, recently recorded versions of mostly unreleased, early songs that hearken back to the very start his career. Joe said that he likes to think that the album dovetails very nicely with "Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch" and Bonfire of Roadmaps, and that he is very hopeful that by releasing both albums on the same day, "folks will be able to see the travel-worn connections" between the then and now.
JOE ELY
In the '70s, country & western was full of artists referred to as outlaws, mavericks who bucked the stodgy
Nashville music establishment by writing their own songs, recording with their road bands, and producing their own records. The genre produced a slew of acts, but
Amarillo, TX, native Joe Ely epitomized the form. Unlike most of that era's big names, Ely remained a viable artist. He got his start back in the early '70s, working with Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore in a group called the Flatlanders. Their only album didn't go far, and the group broke up. 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 Butch Hancock and throwing in some of his own road-worn, oddly poetic originals. The next year brought Honky Tonk Masquerade, the cornerstone of Ely's legacy and one of modern country's most ambitious albums. 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. Yet, mysteriously,produced no hits. MCA dropped Ely in 1983, and he wood shedded 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, releasing another live set and Love and Danger. Twistin’ in the Wind followed in 1998, and Live at Antone’s arrived two years later along with MCA-Nashville's Best Of collection. Ely remained an energetic and passionate live performer and an occasionally inspired songwriter.
|
