Joe Ely has alway been a step ahead of the music industry. He’s toured as an opener for the Clash and shared the stage with Elvis Costello. He;s kept Lubbock on the map by teaming up with local musicians Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock in the country/folk trio The Flatlanders. He’s written books, ‘Bonfire of Roadmaps’ and the forthcoming ‘Reverb: An Odyssey.’
Ely also released a ‘B484,’ an album made in the 80’s in his home studio, cutting edge at the time, that later was recreated in a “professional” studio by MCA and released as ‘Hi Res.’
All this scavenging through archives has also led to another treasure.
A recent visit that Ely had with Linda Ronstadt the two artists recalling the session for a 1987 duet for “Where is My Love.â€
After a search, the recording was found. Ely and Ronstadt agreed the song held up well over time. Written by West Texas songwriter, Randy Banks, it is a Tejanao-tinged song of lost love and woeful regret that brings Linda Ronstadt back to her ‘Silk Purse’ country-rock era of the early 70’s. Her vocal interchange with Ely carries a soulful reminder of how two fine artists create magic through chemistry and the sheer joy of sharing together in a great country song and, sadly, how much we will miss her voice due to her struggles with Parkinson’s disease.
Hear the magic below/ I will post info on buying when I get it.
Ely is currently at work on a follow-up to 2011’s ‘Satisfied at Last,’
– Buck recorded two Christmas albums back in the sixties - Christmas Shopping and Christmas with Buck Owens. This is the better of the two because the King of the Bakersfield Sound avoids the usual Christmas chestnuts and lends his signature style to a collection consisting almost all original songs. The songs run from barroom weepers Blue Christmas Tree and It’s Christmas Time For Everyone But Me and the swinging Santa’s Gonna Come in a Stage Coach and Because It’s Christmas Time. This is a great stocking-stuffer for the country traditionalist in your life.
– How many Christmas albums can you name that resulted in a #1 song? Not many, but this is one of them. Haggard’s A Christmas Present, released in 1973, contains the single If We Make It Through December which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart that December through January 1974. That song and others like melancholy “Daddy Won’t Be Home for Christmas settles you in for a lonesome Christmas, but Hag does take a light-hearted break with Santa Claus and Popcorn and Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog for Christmas.
– The legendary John Prine puts away the satircal knives (mostly) on this excellent, though brief, holiday release. Classics like I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and Silver Bells are done straight-up and mixed with wry originals resulting in a tasty spiked Christmas nog. Broken relationships in songs like Everything Is Cool and All the Best are recalled less bitterness then bemused fatalism.
– A collection of Americana and alt.country legends came together on this 2005 release partake in one of the greatest of Christmas endeavors; charity.
– Unfortunately now out of print, Hillbilly Holiday is an excellent 18-track compilation of classic country Christmas songs. Pioneers like Bill Monroe, Tex Ritter and Ernst Tubb sit beside relative newcomers Willie Nelson. Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn on this often whimsical compilation. If you can find this release is just the remedy for the pop-country fan in your life.
The sophomore release from Providence, RI.’s John Joseph McCauley III has him filling out his sound with a full band that he employs to help him mine his inner Joe Ely and Tom Petty this sonic recesses where twangy barroom serenades are mashed up with 50’s and 60’s era pop rave-ups.