Joe Ely, Beloved Texas Country Music Icon and Former Clash Touring Partner, Passes Away at 78

Joe Ely.
Credit:

Barbara FG

NEED TO KNOW

• Joe Ely died from complications of Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s, and pneumonia on Dec. 15 at the age of 78.
• The legendary musician was a pioneer of the progressive country movement and toured with The Clash after befriending Joe Strummer in the late 1970s.
• “I’ve traveled millions of miles, zigging and zagging in every kind of vehicle known to man, trying to get from one place to another to create some more music,” Ely reflected in 2011.

Joe Ely, renowned for his role in shaping the progressive country movement, passed away on December 15 at the age of 78.

The singer-songwriter died from complications related to Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia. At the time of his passing, he was surrounded by his wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1983, and their daughter, Marie, at their home in Taos, New Mexico.

Born on February 9, 1947, in Amarillo, Texas, Ely started his music career in local bars before forming the original Joe Ely Band, featuring renowned musicians such as guitarist Jesse Taylor and Lloyd Maines. The band underwent various iterations, including contributions from notable artists like Jimmy Pettit, Davis McLarty, and David Grissom.

In 1972, Ely joined forces with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock to record the album All American Music under the band name Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders. This album was later reissued in Britain as One Road More and in the United States as More a Legend Than a Band in 1990.

Joe Ely performs at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in August 2016.

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“Back in the days when the three of us first got together, both Butch and Jimmie were such inspirations for me to start writing songs,” Ely recounted to Lone Star Music magazine in 2011. “I mean, I’d written a few before then, but hearing Jimmie write ‘Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown’ and ‘Treat Me Like a Saturday Night’ and ‘Dallas’ … those are just like magic songs for me.”

He added, “And I felt like Butch’s songs were all somewhere inside of me, and he just opened the door and let everything out. That’s what really made me sit down and say, ‘I can do that, too.’ Being a musician, you always have to have an inspiration.”

Although the Flatlanders disbanded shortly after recording a pivotal eight-track cassette that remained undiscovered for decades, they reunited in the late 1990s to produce a song for the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer.

Joe Ely at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn, Illinois in November 1995.

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Beyond his work with the band, Ely briefly traveled with the Ringling Bros. circus before returning to his music roots. He settled in Austin in the early 1980s, establishing himself as a notable solo artist and a prominent figure in the city’s dynamic music scene. Following the release of his self-titled debut solo album in 1977, he formed a close friendship with Joe Strummer of The Clash, participated in the recording of London Calling, and toured extensively with the punk band in both the U.S. and U.K.

Reflecting on his journey, Ely shared, “I had teachers tell me I wouldn’t make it to 21 when I was going to high school, so I beat the odds, you know? I’ve traveled millions of miles, zigging and zagging in every kind of vehicle known to man, trying to get from one place to another to create some more music.”