Joe Ely (album)
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| Joe Ely | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1977 | |||
| Studio | Young 'Un Sound, Murfreesboro, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country rock[1] | |||
| Length | 32:10 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | Chip Young | |||
| Joe Ely chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Joe Ely | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A−[1] |
| Dirty Linen | (favorable)[3] |
Joe Ely is the 1977 debut album by Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely. The album includes several tracks written by Ely's bandmates in the Flatlanders.[2]
Joe Ely and the follow-up album, Honky Tonk Masquerade, helped establish 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]
All tracks composed by Joe Ely except where indicated.
- Side 1
- "I Had My Hopes Up High" - 3:32
- "Mardi Gras Waltz" - 2:50
- "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me" (Butch Hancock) - 3:34
- "Gambler's Bride" - 2:35
- "Suckin' a Big Bottle of Gin" (Butch Hancock) - 3:15
- Side 2
- "Tennessee's Not the State I'm In" (Butch Hancock) - 3:04
- "If You Were a Bluebird" (Butch Hancock) - 2:59
- "Treat Me Like a Saturday Night" (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) - 3:02
- "All My Love" - 3:09
- "Johnny Blues" - 4:10
