Americana legend Joe Ely’s 21st solo album has been released only days after his wife and manager, Sharon Ely, announced that he had been recently diagnosed with a serious brain condition.
The album Love & Freedom, co-produced by another West Texas legend Lloyd Maines, came out on February 7. And it suddenly took on special significance given that on January 31, Sharon had published on Facebook details of his latest medical prognosis.
The Elys live in Taos, New Mexico and Sharon explained how they were forced to travel to their old stomping ground, Austin, Texas, for specialist treatment.
“In August 2024, as Joe was actually healing from a bout of pneumonia, he experienced an episode of what seemed like a small stroke. To make a very long story short, the only neurologist we could find right away was in Austin,” she wrote. “The neurologist looked at Joe’s MRI and diagnosed him with cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Basically, this is a condition where protein deposits in the small blood vessels of the brain can weaken the blood vessel walls and can lead to bleeding on the brain.”
Sharon explained that the couple have returned to Taos where Joe is on special medication and receiving ongoing care from his local General Practitioner. She also announced that they would soon travel to Arizona for a second opinion from a specialist there.
Seventy-seven-year-old Ely, who was raised in Lubbock, TX, is regarded one of the great progressive country singer-songwriters. Not only is this due to his extensive solo work, but also for his time with The Flatlanders, a trio - also featuring Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock - regarded as one of the pioneers of the Americana genre.
It was during his on-going health issues that Joe and Sharon – also his creative partner – spent time listening to “files and files and files” of music that he recorded through the years in his Austin studio. Love and Freedom – the actual name of the folder in which the songs were housed - is the first album of what might be several from this collection.
“As we listened to these recordings we discovered that they are related to the times we are living today. Joe wanted people to hear these songs and think about what they mean,” Sharon said. “Working on music keeps him focused and interested. Being the workaholic he has always been, to sit around the do nothing is OK now and then, but not all the time. This has been great for Joe as we both weave through this journey together in a meaningful way.”
The big challenge for the Elys was not so much the selection process but the production needed to actually publish the work. The problem was that the 13 tracks chosen were rough mix demos. The multi tracks from the session were nowhere to be found.
The answer lay with Joe’s old Lubbock friend, long-time producer Lloyd Maines, renown not only for his musical skills but as father of star Natalie Maines, lead singer of The Chicks.
“Joe has always set the bar high. Without options to remix multi-tracks, we had to be creative to find the right sound” Maines said.
Ely produced and played guitar, harmonica and percussion on the originals. Mains layered acoustic, slide guitar and bass on to the tracks. Guitarist David Grissom, a side-kick of Ely’s, added licks when need, while Joel Guzman played accordion. Maines also played on six of the tracks
“Joe’s vocal is just killer and having that as a grounding point was fantastic,” Maines added.
Indeed, Ely’s vocals are fittingly distinctively-timeless, given that this work has transgressed a period of time. There are nine originals on the album and four are covers by some of Joe’s favourite song-writers, including two – “For Sake of the Song” and “Waiting Around to Die” - by his long-gone friend and fellow-Texan Townes Van Zandt.
In fact, Ely’s version of “For Sake of the Song” has to rate among the best covers of a Van Zandt composition, and there have been a few! Joe’s distinctive harmonica and the accordion seep smoothly and harmonize beautifully with the steel guitar and other adornments Maines has added. Sheer perfection!
Van Zandt is often mentioned in the same breath as another revered Texas songwriter, Guy Clark, and Ely’s third cover is “Magdalene,” a beautiful song Guy released on Workbench Songs in 2006 and again Ely does credit to a great songwriter. His version, though distinctive, stays true to the original with a slow, under-stated delivery.
There have been many duets of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportees.” And Ely does a good one here when he pairs up with musician and actor Ryan Bingham, of Yellowstone fame. The classic is probably more relevant now than it was years ago when Guthrie wrote it after reading a story about an air crash over Los Gatos Canyon.
Given that the original Ely songs were taken from “files and files” of unreleased demo-tracks recorded over the years, it is not surprising that, in general, these nine resemble much of the material on solo albums over the past decade or so.
But they remain authentic Ely. And the subjects reflect a genuine concern for social issues – poverty, justice, native rights - relevant throughout those years.
He wrote the mesmerizing “No One Wins” back near the turn of the century when he joined the thousands who toured Ground Zero soon after the 9/11 attacks:
Destruction breeds destruction
And no one wins
“Here’s to the Brave” honours Native Americans and their ongoing struggle for land rights:
Here’s to the ones who cried in the wind
The loss of their precious land
Here’s to the ones who made amends
To take it back with their precious hands
The futility of war – no matter how it is executed – is cleverly trolled in “What Kind of War”:
If you could have your very own war
What kind of war would it be
A war of wits, a war of words
Or a war on stupidity
And then there is the comedic “Sgt Baylock” which tells a true tale about a Lubbock police officer “who threw me in jail every time he saw me.” The name of the protagonist has obviously been changed to protect the guilty:
Sergeant Baylock used to stop me
Every time he saw me walking down a dusty Lubbock street
Son he used to say, I hate to ruin your day
But the city jail has reserved you a private suite
“These songs are a little radical,” said Ely. “I feel like it is a good time to stand up and speak out.”
Fans will be glad he has, and grateful to Maines et al for masterly enhancing these originals.
Coinciding with the album’s release, and details of his health issues, was the announcement that Ely would be an honoree at the 2025 American Music Honors, an offshoot of Bruce Springsteen’s Archives & Center for American Music. Springsteen and Ely have performed together and remain close friends. In fact, Springsteen himself rang Ely to say his 50+ years of contributions to American music had to be recognised.
Paul Cutler
Editor Crossroads – Americana Music Appreciation.
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