JOE ELY : LOVE + FREEDOM

JOE ELY : LOVE + FREEDOM

Shake 'Em Up
Adios Sweet Dreams
Magdalene
Deportee (with Ryan Bingham)
Waiting Around to Die
Sgt. Baylock
Today It Did
Band of Angels
For Sake of the Song
Here's to the Brave
What Kind of War
No One Wins
Surrender to the West

Label : Rack 'Em

Release Date : 2025

Length : 56:23

Review (Americana Highways) : This set introduces itself with the retro Farfisa-type organ chords (in an early ‘60s tradition) on a Wild West dice game rocker “Shake ’em Up.” Joe Ely’s well-punctuated alternative country-rock experienced vocals suit this fine. The material isn’t as romantic as Chris Issac, as folky as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, or melodramatic as many Townes van Zandt tunes. But Ely has made a vibrant signature with his voice. These songs in the hands of a master like Mr. Ely lay claim to this musical territory. There are 12 sparkling examples of the well-established Grammy-Award-winning Joe Ely magic on this, his 29th album Love and Freedom (Drops Feb 7/Rack ‘Em Records/Thirty Tigers). Recorded at Joe’s home studio in Austin, TX. The 2nd cut is a Tex-Mex piece about the border troubles in Texas. “Adios Sweet Dreams” where Joe manages to maintain the traditions set down by the late Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm & the others of The Texas Tornados. Here, he’s laid down a superb respectful performance with expertise. The story unfolds like so many previous easy-going border storytelling songs. “Speedy Gonzales” (Pat Boone) & “Come A Little Bit Closer” (Jay & the Americans) come to mind. But most importantly, Joe’s isn’t as pop novelty-oriented. Joe is far more authentic in this genre. A Guy Clark cover “Magdelene” has a crisply recorded accordion that allows the ballad to shine & take a little of the melancholy edge off. Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” features Ryan Bingham’s vocal as well. All of the songs were dug up from Ely’s archives & dealt with poverty, immigration, war, justice, love, freedom & other social issues. A listener wouldn’t have to agree with Joe’s perspective to appreciate the wonderful performances he’s carved out. The late Townes van Zandt’s classic “Waiting Around To Die” is poignant here with a mournful harmonica that helps to make the tune as haunting as ever. With the true story of “Sgt. Baylock” & narrated in a similar tempo reminiscent of the Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue.” It isn’t too gripping, but it’s entertaining. The desert-dry “Band of Angels” is more like it. With its “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” dust, some Tejanos accordion & gnarly guitar accentuation. For my ears “Today It Did” is a good country rocker with chiming guitar interplay & a wonderful Ely vocal. Joe’s been plowing these musical fields since 1970 – there’s a reason he’s still standing. Highlights: “Shake “em Up,” “Adios Sweet Dreams,” “Magdelene,” “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” “Waiting Around To Die,” “Band of Angels,” “Today It Did,” “Sake of the Song,” “What Kind of War” & “No One Wins.” Musicians: Joe Ely (vocals/guitars/synth/electric drums/harmonica/percussion), Joel Guzman (accordion), Ryan Bingham (vocals/guitar), Lloyd Maines (low acoustic/bass/acoustic guitar/acoustic steel & slide/percussion) & David Grissom (guitar).

Review (Glide Magazine) : For the past several albums since the pandemic, Joe Ely has pored over the material in his hefty archives for hours on end, and now we have the fourth album from that effort, Love and Freedom. This one is bit different in a few ways. Ely found these rough track demos, but the multi-track aspect disappeared. No problem. At the behest of his wife, Sharon, Ely called in trusted allies Lloyd Maines and engineer Pat Manske to flesh out these tracks and turned to Ely’s longtime collaborators, accordionist Joel Guzman and guitarist David Grissom, to assist on a few tracks. In contrast, Ely played all instruments on some, and Maines contributed on some others. Also, this is the first time, and it was almost serendipitous, that Ely chose songs around social justice issues, addressing immigration, poverty, war, justice, and freedom, all through songs he’d been accumulating for decades. So, two days shy of his 78th birthday, we hear Joe Ely in a fine voice in relatively lo-fi compared to the Ely of years past, singing some of the most relevant material he’s recorded: nine originals and four covers. In essence, given the theme and stripped-down instrumentation, this is a folk-rock album. Nonetheless, when born a rocker like Ely, at least a couple of these tunes rock hard, especially the opener, “Shake ‘Em Up,” based on the dice games in the Wild West. Here, as he does on two others, he plays all instuments, in this case including synthesizers and electric drums. From here, though, excepting the covers of two Townes Van Zandt tunes, most of the material ties to the theme. Guzman joins, imbuing “Adios Sweet Dreams” with a Tex-Mex feel as Ely sings about being separated from loved ones after crossing the border and finding that the so-called land of the free is overhyped. In a related way, he covers Guy Clark’s “Magdalene,” again with Guzman on his side. The tune has the protagonist urging his love to go with him to Mexico to escape the daily grind. This immigration thematic almost naturally has to include Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” this version with Ryan Bingham assisting on vocals. Ely pours his passion into this one, making it probably one of the top three versions of the song to these ears, eclipsed only by his fellow Texan, the late Nanci Griffith on Other Voices Other Rooms and longtime colleague Jimmie Dale Gilmore on the Gilmore/Dave Alvin Downey to Lubbock. Ely blows harmonica, and takes a faster tempo on Van Zandt’s classic dirge “Waitin’ Around to Die” yet, together with Maines, he delivers a poignant rather faithful version of Townes’ “For the Sake of the Song.” The remainder of the album are originals. “Sgt. Baylock” is a brief respite from the serious material, although one could take this as an outcry to the random arrests under this new administration. In any case, the Sergeant would just randomly arrest Ely for trumped-up vagrancy charges only to meet the forgiving sergeant in a bar many years later only to be hauled off with him and two others to jail for drunkenness. Five others are deadly serious. In the mid-tempo rocker (with Grissom) a man goes to jail for telling the truth in “Today It Did” while on “Band Of Angels,” translated in today’s terms, he and his gang are running for the border to outpace the ICE agents. “Here’s to the Braves” celebrates Native Americans and “No One Wins” was penned after touring Ground Zero shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The lyrics to “What Kind Of War” are akin to the protest albums of the ‘60s. Here’s an excerpt – “Would you war for the spoils, a war for the oil/Or a war not remembered what for?/Would you war for the grieving/Or just to get even/With a war to end all wars” His “Surrender to the West” may be a bit more abstract, or maybe universal but it’s rather easy to read into the continuing conflicts in the Middle East. Five plus decades on, one of greatest troubadours, Joe Ely, keeps pushing forward.

Review (Bluestown Music) : The thirteen tracks that make up Love and Freedom are a healing elixir for the world’s emotional turmoil. “These songs are a little radical,” Joe says. I feel like it is a good time to stand up and speak out.” “The way we express ourselves is through our art and music,” adds Sharon Ely, Joe’s wife and creative partner. Ely recorded the songs—with themes of immigration, poverty, war, justice, love, freedom, and other social issues—over several decades at his own Spur Studios. He saved the songs in a folder titled Love and Freedom and stumbled on the folder in the fall of 2024. One challenge. The songs were rough mix demos, but multi-tracks from the sessions had disappeared. Sharon suggested turning the files over to musician, friend, and magic-making producer Lloyd Maines. “Joe has always set the bar high,” Maines says. “Without options to remix multi-tracks, we had to be creative to find the right sound.” Maines layered instruments on to the tracks, adding acoustic, slide guitar and bass. “Joe’s vocal is just killer and having that as a grounding point is fantastic,” he says. Maines worked with Pat Manske at the Zone Recording Studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, and brought in long-time Ely sidekick David Grissom to add his singular guitar licks to a couple of songs. Joel Guzman played accordion on the original tracks. Ely produced and played guitar, harmonica and percussion on the original recordings.The result is another remarkable and authentic Joe Ely album with nine originals, and four covers of favorite songs by other writers. Ely sings the hell out of Townes Van Zandt’s “Waiting Around To Die” and “For the Sake of the Song.” His voice yearns on Guy Clark’s “Magdalene” and haunts the Woody Guthrie classic “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” which features singer-songwriter and Yellowstone star Ryan Bingham on vocals. The first single from Love and Freedom is “Shake ‘Em Up,” which Ely describes as “an ode to dice games in the Wild West.” He wrote “No One Wins” after touring Ground Zero shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Adios Sweet Marie” is about the border troubles in Texas. “Here’s to the Brave” celebrates Native Americans. “Sergeant Baylock,” not his real name, is about a police officer in Lubbock who hassled Joe relentlessly. “He threw me in jail every time he saw me,” Joe says. Heady songs about social justice—“Today It Did,” “Band of Angels,” “What Kind of War,” and “Surrender to the West”—round out the collection.

Review (Pop Matters) : I first saw Joe Ely perform live about 25 years ago at South by Southwest (SXSW). He was well known as one of the leading exponents of the progressive Austin country scene. In the 1970s, he was a founding member of the legendary Lubbock band the Flatlanders, along with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Ely then went on to play with the notorious English punk band the Clash and even brought them back to Texas. By the time I had seen him, Ely had already recorded seven full-length solo albums. Ely gave a commanding performance that thrilled the audience at the celebrated restaurant Las Manitas that night. I had gone to concerts for more than three decades by then at venues large and small, but I could easily say Ely’s gig was the best show I had ever been to in my life. (This is one of the reasons I still attend SXSW, even though the festival and the town have changed so much. I am hoping to capture that magic again.) After the show, I spoke with the singer-songwriter and felt I was in the presence of greatness. He was charismatic, thoughtful, and perceptive as he discussed his music and that of his peers. I’ve seen the Grammy Award-winning artist play live dozens of times since then as a solo performer and a member of acts such as Los Super Sevens and the Flatlanders, as well as in various permutations with other artists at SXSW and different venues in Texas and even in my hometown of Iowa City. Joe Ely never fails to put on a good show. He is a craftsman (like his old friend and fellow Texan, the late Guy Clark) who continues to refine his musical output. He has never slowed down and has just released his 29th solo record, which incidentally contains Ely’s earnest rendition of Clark’s Tex Mex classic “Magdalene”. The songs on Love and Freedom began as basic tracks Ely taped over the years at his Spur Studios and saved in a folder called Love and Freedom. Ely produced and played guitar, harmonica, and percussion, and longtime accompanist Joel Guzman played accordion on the original recordings. Joe Ely gave the music to Lloyd Maines to produce, who brought in guitarist David Grissom (John Mellencamp, James McMurtry) to add his touch to some of the songs. The finished products share a rough quality and a polished sheen. Ely’s vocals stand out. He puts the emotional content front and center, whether offering a classic tale of addiction such as Townes Van Zandt‘s “Waiting Around to Die” or delivering a mirthful self-penned story of his encounters with a local cop on “Sgt. Baylock”. Nine of the cuts are original tunes, four are covers and most of the contents really are not about love or freedom as much as character studies of the protagonists. Ely inhabits their inner worlds, whether he’s singing about dice games or terrorist attacks. Fellow Texan Ryan Bingham joins him for Woody Guthrie‘s mournful elegy “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” and sings happily about his bank robbing success on “Today It Did”. Well, the latter isn’t exactly true, as the thief ends up paying for his crime. The quality of Love and Freedom is consistent with the other works in Ely’s discography. He’s never put out a bad record. Ely’s idiosyncratic choice of tunes and styles on an album like this, whose contents were not initially recorded as part of a purposeful product, may seem random. However, his protagonists desire a better life in a world that can be cruel. They instinctually protest against their fates. They matter to themselves and aren’t ashamed to say so. Joe Ely’s voice rings out as a collective yawp for individual identity.