The curtain has closed on Joe Ely’s phenomenal career. The Texas-born country-rocker, who found fame as a solo artist and a member of the Flatlanders, died Monday at home in New Mexico from complications of Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s, and pneumonia, his rep confirmed to Rolling Stone. He was 78.
Ely played an important role in the development of progressive and alternative country music, bringing a rock ‘n’ roll influence to the genre and helping to cultivate an Austin music scene that reacted against the slick Nashville sound in the 1970s. But he wielded influence on rock as well, making his mark on earnest, salt-of-the-earth icons like Bruce Springsteen and the Clash’s Joe Strummer. Among rock fans, Ely may be best known for participating in the sessions for the Clash’s London Calling and opening for the legendary UK punk band on tour.
Born in Amarillo in 1947 and raised in Lubbock, Ely formed the Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock in the early 1970s. The band’s sound was steeped in country traditionalism but also had an ear for the counterculture, a combination that would echo through generations of alt-country musicians to come (including Uncle Tupelo, with whom Ely later collaborated). Though they recorded a debut album in 1972, the Flatlanders broke up before it could be released. Years later, after all three members found solo success, those early recordings became a subject of intrigue. When they finally saw the light of day in 1990, those tracks came out under the title More a Legend Than a Band.
After striking out on his own, Ely earned a deal with MCA through a connection with Jerry Jeff Walker. Ely’s first two albums, 1977’s self-titled and 1978’s Honky Tonk Masquerade, affirmed him as a key figure in the burgeoning country music counterculture. In addition to becoming “one of the main movers” of Austin’s progressive country scene according to All Music Guide, he remained active back home in Lubbock, organizing an annual all-star benefit concert called the Tornado Jam.
Ely steadily churned out albums throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, and as the new millennium approached, new opportunities beckoned. He won a Grammy for his 1999 album with the Latin country supergroup Los Super Seven alongside Rick Trevino and members of the Texas Tornados and Los Lobos. And when involvement with Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer precipitated a reunion with the Flatlanders, the band teamed up for a new album, 2002’s Now Again.
Ely stayed active both as a solo artist and a Flatlanders member throughout the past quarter-century, recording, gigging, and picking up accolades such as his 2016 stint as the official Texas State Musician. He released his most recent album, Love and Freedom, in February of this year.
