Joe Ely died last week aged 78. He'd been unwell for a while, diagnosed with Parkinson's and Lewy body dementia and it s pneumonia did for him in the end. Joe was a key figure in the Austin, Texas scene in the mid- to- late 70s. He started out in Lubbock, birthplace of Buddy Holly, and as one of The Flatlanders played a country and rock 'n' roll hybrid. Joe released his first solo album in 1977. In 1978 Joe and his band played in London and hit it off with Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, playing with each other when The Clash toured the USA in 1978 and 1979. The two Joes especially became good friends, finding plenty of common ground in their respective record collections.
The photos on the back of London Calling are from a Clash gig at The Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, a nod of the black fedora to Joe Ely from The Clash and a raucous gig they played just before the release of London Calling, Ely supporting The Clash and then appearing with them. Joe appears on Should I Stay Or Should I Go (on backing vox) and when The Clash played The Tribal Stomp at Monterrey in 1979, they played Fingernails, a Joe Ely song, with Joe guesting on vocals.
Fingernails (Live at Tribal Stomp 1979)
On Sandinista!, The Clash's 1980 triple album (which I wrote about only last week on the occaison of it's 45th birthday) Joe Strummer included a line about Joe Ely in the song If Music Could Talk- 'Well there ain't no better blend/ Than Joe Ely and his Texas Men. If Music Could Talk is Sandinista! at it's most experimental, the music from Shepherd's Delight, a Clash/ Mikey Dread track from the session at Pluto in Manchester (that resulted in Bankrobber) with a stream of consciousness Strummer lyric split between the left and right channels. Joe Ely is in good company- the song also name checks Bo Diddley, Errol Flynn, Isaac Newton, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Jim Morrison and Samson. Gary Barnacle's jazz saxophone drifts in and out. Is talking blues crossed with experimental dub jazz what people wanted or expected from The Clash in 1980?
Joe Ely's career resulted in a steady stream of albums, twenty studio albums and a handful of live ones. In 1992 he released Love And Danger which included this song (written by Robert Earl Keen), The Road Goes On Forever, country and rock 'n' roll
Joe Ely RIP
1 comment:
Saw the Clash, Joe and Mikey play the Poole Arts Centre back in 1980. We went down in the school bus. Possibly the best school outing I ever took, even better than Lulworth Cove.
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