Joe Ely, an alt-country legend who collaborated with the likes of The Conflict and Bruce Springsteen, has died at age 78. The Texas musician handed away after battling Lewy Physique Dementia, Parkinson’s illness, and pneumonia.
An announcement on his official Fb web page reads, “Legendary songwriter, singer, and raconteur Joe Ely died at present from problems of Lewy Physique Dementia, Parkinson’s and pneumonia. His beloved spouse Sharon and daughter Marie have been at his aspect at their house in Taos, New Mexico. Ely was born February 9, 1947 in Amarillo, Texas. He was a frontrunner of the extraordinary parade of artists raised in Lubbock who later settled within the reside music capital of Austin. Ely signed with MCA Information within the Nineteen Seventies and spent greater than 5 a long time recording and performing around the globe. A full obituary and extra info will observe within the coming days.”
Ely obtained his begin in music forming the country-rock band The Flatlanders in 1972 with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Nonetheless, their music went largely unreleased, solely seeing the sunshine of day within the ’90 in any case three members had made names for themselves as solo artists. The band reunited in 1998, and would play collectively and file all through the years till Ely’s passing.
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In 1977, Ely launched his first of 16 solo albums, a self-titled effort. Whereas touring England the next yr, he met The Conflict, and later toured with the legendary punk band in Texas and Mexico. The Conflict even name-checked Ely within the lyrics to their track “If Music Might Speak” from their 1980 album Sandinista!, with the road, “Nicely there ain’t no higher mix than Joe Ely and his Texas Males.” Ely later sang backup vocals on The Conflict’s hit “Ought to I Keep or Ought to I Go” from 1982’s Fight Rock.
Within the early ’90s, Ely shaped the short-lived supergroup Buzzin’ Cousins with John Mellencamp, John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, and James McMurtry, releasing the track “Candy Suzanne” for the soundtrack to the film Falling from Grace starring Mellencamp
Extra lately, Bruce Springsteen appeared on Joe Ely’s 2024 album, Pushed to Drive, guesting on the monitor “Odds of the Blues.” Eight years earlier, Springsteen inducted Ely into the Austin Metropolis Limits Corridor of Fame.
Ely’s newest solo album, Love and Freedom, was launched in February of this yr. Our condolences exit to Ely’s household and mates throughout this tough time.
