Joe Ely has been a cornerstone of the Texas music scene since the late 1970s. He currently tours with his old friends Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock as the Flatlanders, does shows with his full backing unit (The Joe Ely Band), and often squeezes in solo sets. I’ve seen him solo in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with support from Dutch flamenco guitarist Teye (Teije Wijnterp) and on a different night with only a percussionist. He also does occasional gigs with Conjunto accordion player Joel Guzman. It’s quite obvious, the man loves to perform.
There is a common thread in the material that Joe Ely writes and chooses. Characters are haunted by their unrequited love, bruised hearts, and wandering spirits. These protagonists are painfully aware of the destination, but can never complete the journey. Maybe there’s a connection to Joe’s career, which included several major label albums and touring with The Clash when Joe Strummer’s band was the most critically acclaimed band in the world, but never resulted in any significant commercial success. However, I’ve never heard Ely express one iota of disappointment and I’ve never seen him phone in a gig.
For this Friday night show in Dallas, Ely brought guitarist Jeff Plankenhorn, who served as an equal partner while playing slide/electric/acoustic guitar and mandolin. Working without a written setlist, the show had a loose, living room concert feel, but whenever a song started, Ely turned his motor into overdrive. Ely enjoys rich lyrical images, check out this opening couplet from Butch Hancock’s “Row of Dominoes” – “Carmen must have been the Devil’s daughter/At least he taught her how to wear her clothes.” He alternates between the heartbreak and the humorous. Lost loves and heartbreaks were balanced out by bent frying pans and skeet shooting with your friend’s cremated ashes stuffed into shotgun shells.
Highlights included a stark take on “Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown” and the hard charging “I Wish Hard Living Didn’t Come So Easy,” which included many sharp tempo changes, received a mid-show standing ovation. Not everything worked. “Run Little Pony” is a weak opener and there were some atypical sound issues, which I’ve never seen before at the Kessler ( probably the best room in the Dallas/Fort Worth area). But Ely stands in a unique artistic spot. I don’t know of anyone else that could credibly sing about a man’s dreams being invested in a one-eyed rooster, gambling on the cockfighting circuit. Of course, the dreamer ends up betting one too many times.
As I left the Kessler, two entirely not sober men where serenading passersby, belting out, “Have you ever seen Dallas in a DC-9 at night?” Jimmie Dale Gilmore wrote “Dallas” for the Flatlanders initial album in 1972 and Ely covered it for a 1981 album. It’s an ominous warning about a city that is equally seductive and unforgiving. I think about this song quite often.
Grade – A-
Setlist:
Run Little Pony
Not That Much Has Changed
Wishing for a Rainbow
Because of the Wind
The Highway is My Home
I’m Gonna Strangle You Shorty
Row of Dominoes
Mockingbird Hill
You Can Bet I’m Gone
Tonight I’m Gonna Go Downtown
I Wish Hard Living Didn’t Come So Easy
Right Where I Belong
Gallo Del Cielo
She Never Spoke Spanish to Me
She Finally Spoke Spanish to Me
Letter to Laredo
First Encore
Live Forever
All Just to Get to You
Second Encore
Dallas
I Ain’t Been Here Long