Ely plays A Prairie Home Companion

Love + Freedom

Ever since Joe Ely released "Love in the Midst of Mayhem" during the pandemic in 202O, he's dug into his catalog to produce three more albums, the latest being "Love and Freedom," to hit just two days before his 78th birthday. His voice remains as strong as ever as Ely confesses that some of these songs are more radical than one might expect. It's his way of urging us to stand up and speak out. These are themes of immigration, poverty, war, justice, freedom and other ...

Flatland Lullaby

The songwriter's prime directive is to translate personal observations and emotions into creative expressions that are more broadly universal. So what happens when a songwriter follows the inverse formula, and channels some of the most categorically omnipresent human feelings into songs that are aimed at the narrowest possible audience? The answer to that rarely considered question is all over Joe Ely's latest archive release from his own Rack 'Em label, the highly personal and ...

Love in the Midst of Mayhem

Over the past 14 years, Joe Ely has earned a reputation as one of the forebears of that unique branch of Americana borne from the Great State of Texas. Both individually, and as part of the super band, The Flatlanders, he's carved out a career as an essential insurgent, one who once kept company with The Clash while establishing some decidedly cool credentials of his own. While the title might suggest otherwise, the hastily released "Love in the Midst of Mayhem" finds ...