Joe Ely (album)

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Joe Ely
Studio album by Joe Ely
Released	1977
Recorded	Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Genre	country
Length	32:10
Label	MCA
Producer	Chip Young with "special thanks to Don Caldwell"
Professional reviews
All Music Guide [1] Robert Christgau (A-)[2] Dirty Linen (favorable)[3]
Joe Ely chronology
Joe Ely (1977) Honky Tonk Masquerade (1978)

Joe Ely is the self-titled debut album by Joe Ely, released in 1977 on MCA Records. The album includes several tracks with "near-classic" status among Ely fans,^[1] including several written by Ely's bandmates from The Flatlanders. Although the The Flatlanders never actually broke-up, there would be several decades between their poorly distributed 1972 album and their next release.

Joe Ely, together with his follow-up, Honky Tonk Masquerade, established Ely as a solo artist. Although the reissued CD doesn't credit Ely's backing musicians, the original LP included a one-page insert containing lyrics and musician credits. The core of the backing band that Ely had assembled for his debut was the same Lubbock-based crack team that appeared with him the following year on Honky Tonk Masquerade and continued to follow him on the road until 1982.^[4][5]

Years later Ely would recall that the band had not initially made plans for a recording career:

"We had recorded some songs at [Don] Caldwell's studio," Ely said. "Don took that tape to Jerry Jeff Walker, and Jerry Jeff recorded one of the songs and played it for a guy with MCA Records. Then one night in 1975 at the Cotton Club, an A&R guy with MCA asked, 'Do y'all want to make some records?'"

"I told him we'd sure never planned on it. But we hadn't planned anything else either, so why not?"^[5]

In the years that followed the release of Joe Ely, the band would become an act of national stature.

Contents 1 LP track listing 1.1 Side one 1.2 Side two 2 Credits 2.1 Musicians 2.2 Production 2.3 Artwork 3 Releases 4 Notes and sources

[edit] LP track listing

All songs written by Joe Ely except as indicated.

[edit] Side one

1. "I Had My Hopes Up High" — 3:32
2. "Mardi Gras Waltz" — 2:50
3. "She Never Spoke Spanish To Me" (Butch Hancock) — 3:34
4. "Gambler's Bride" — 2:35
5. "Suckin' A Big Bottle Of Gin" (Hancock) — 3:15

[edit] Side two

1. "Tennessee's Not The State I'm In" (Hancock) — 3:04
2. "If You Were A Bluebird" (Hancock) — 2:59
3. "Treat Me Like A Saturday Night" (Jimmie Gilmore) — 3:02
4. "All My Love" — 3:09
5. "Johnny Blues" — 4:10

[edit] Credits

Credits are summarized from track-by-track credits listed in liner notes.^[6]

[edit] Musicians

• Bass – Gregg Wright
• Drums – Steve Keeton
• Piano, electric piano, clavinet and organ – Bobby Emmons
• Electric guitars – Jesse Taylor, Rick Hulett, Joe Ely, Chip Young
• Acoustic guitars – Joe Ely, Chip Young, Lloyd Maines, Rick Hulett, Ray Edenton
• Gut & 12 String Guitar – Jesse Taylor
• F-Hole Guitar – Ray Edenton
• Steel guitar – Lloyd Maines
• Dobros – Jesse Taylor, Rick Hulett
• Slide dobro – Joe Ely (on "Saturday Night")
• Harmonica – Joe Ely
• Percussion – Farrell Morris
• Horns – The Muscle Shoals Group
• Trumpet – Harrison Callaway
• Tenor Sax – Harvey Thompson
• Baritone Sax – Ron Eades
• Trombone – Charles Rose
• Vocal Harmonies – Joe Ely (on "Johnny Blues"); Rick Hulett (on "Mardi Gras Waltz", "She Never Spoke Spanish", "Tennessee" and "All My Love")

[edit] Production

• Recorded at Young 'Un Sound Studios, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
  • Engineer – Chip Young
• Mastered at MCA Recording Studio, Universal City, California
  • Mastering Engineer – Larry Boden

[edit] Artwork

• Cover illustration – Paul Milosevich
• Back cover photo (of Ely and band in cafe) – Jim Eppler

[edit] Releases

The album was digitally remastered and released on CD and cassette in 1991.^[4] In 2000, a remastered edition of Ely's first two albums (Joe Ely and Honky Tonk Masquerade) were released together on a single disk. Dirty Linen reported that this disk was especially worth seeking out since it was (at least at the time), "the only place on two continents you can get Ely's debut." The reviewer described Ely's first two albums together: "Ely's self-titled effort and HTM are a bit leaner than most of his other honky-tonk rockers, with a bit more piano than electric guitar backing his lonesome warble -- dry and forceful as the wind whistling through Waco."^[3]

year	format	record company	catalog number
1977	LP	MCA	2808
	LP	MCA	2242
	CD	MCA	1-219
	Cassette	MCA	MCAC-10219
	CD	MCA	MCAD-10219
2000	CD	Beat Goes On (BGO)	BGOCD502[7]

[edit] Notes and sources

1. ^ ^{a b} Brian Mansfield, "Review: Joe Ely", All Music Guide (link)
2. ^ Robert Christgau, Consumer Guide, (link)
3. ^ ^{a b} "Linen Shorts" [short review of Joe Ely - Joe Ely/Honky Tonk Masquerade and New Riders of the Purple Sage - Gypsy Cowboy/The Adventures of Panama Red], Dirty Linen, 94, June-July 2001, p.79
4. ^ ^{a b} Joe Ely Discography from the Official Homepage of Joe Ely
5. ^ ^{a b} William Kerns, "After painful circus stint, Ely soared with new band", Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, February 10, 2007 (link)
6. ^ Reporting of the liner notes for this article were from the MCA LP release, MC-2242
7. ^ This is a remastered disk that combines Joe Ely and Honky Tonk Masquerade onto a single disk.