Joe Ely, singer-songwriter and key figure in the Texas progressive country-rock scene, has died. He was 78 years old.
According to a statement from his representatives, Ely died on December 15 at his home in New Mexico, due to complications from Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's disease and pneumonia.
Ely had a broad view of country and rock, heard on singles such as “All My Love,” “Honky Tonk Masquerade,” “Hard Livin',” “Dallas” and “Fingernails.” Born in 1947 in Amarillo, Texas, Ely was raised in Lubbock before moving to Austin and ushering in a new era of country music in the region, one that reflected both the punk and rock core of the era in the rough-and-tumble country scenes from which they came.
After founding the influential band Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock (which disbanded shortly after recording his debut in 1972), he began a solo career in 1977. He released several acclaimed albums, including 1978's ambitiously rambling “Honky Tonk Masquerade,” before finding his popular peak on 1980's “Live Shots” and “Musta Notta Gotta” 1981. Much.”
Ely, beloved for his barroom poetry that shattered country music's mythmaking, was a willing collaborator across genres. He became friends with The Clash during a tour of London and attended the band's sessions recording their landmark LP “London Calling.” He later toured extensively with the group, singing backup on “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and earning a lyrical tribute on “If Music Could Talk”: “Well, there's no better combination than Joe Ely and his Texas men.”
Ely was a favorite opening act for veteran rock groups looking to imbue sets with Texas country swagger. He performed with the Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen, who later sang with him on “Odds of the Blues” in 2024. Springsteen once said of Ely: “Thank God he wasn't born in New Jersey. It would have been a lot more work for me.”
In the '90s, Ely joined a supergroup, the Buzzin Cousins, with John Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine and James McMurtry, to record Mellencamp's film “Falling From Grace.” Ely was later asked by Robert Redford to compose material for his film “The Horse Whisperer,” which led to collaborations with his former Flatlanders bandmates and a reunion in the 2000s. He also performed in the musical “Chippy: Diaries of a West Texas Hooker” at Lincoln Center in New York City and joined the Tex-Mex collective Los Super Seven; shared the band's Grammy for Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance in 1999, their only such award.
Ely was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2022 and released his latest album, “Love and Freedom,” in February.
