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Event
Joe Ely w/ Karen Jonas
2016 Texas State Musician
"songwriter without peer for more than four decades" - Chicago Tribune
In the rock'n'roll era, the vast spaces of west Texas have been filled with great music. Joe Ely stands in a tradition born out on these gritty plains. It includes Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, Guy Clark, Delbert McClinton, Don Walser, Terry Allen, Lloyd Maines, his daughter Natalie Maines, and Joe's enduring musical partners, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
It is a land where you can see for miles and miles and miles. Only those who don't know it find it barren. For it's full of stories if you know where to seek them. And it has customs and amusements all its own. Even the forever dipping oil wells have their role. "In high school, we used to get somebody to buy us a six pack and go out there to the fields and ride the front part of those oil pumps all night long," Joe remembers.
Now, Ely lives in Austin and spends much of his life on the road. But when he's accumulated enough song ideas, Lubbock is where Joe heads. "Somehow, just drivbing for hours down those country roads is still the best place for me finish my songs."
Panhandle Rambler is one of the most personal albums Joe Ely's ever made. It brings forth this terrain, the spirited people it produces and that special sense of destiny, be it terrible or glorious, that its very vastness creates. "Wounded Creek" starts the album with what you might call a Western fantasy, except that the "bushes and the brambles," the traffic light, the stray dog and the cold wind are all completely brought to life.
Legendary tales and legendary musicians. Panhandle Rambler, largely recorded in Austin, features some of the most respected local musicians: drummer Davis McClarty, guitarists Lloyd Maines and Robbie Gjersoe, Jeff Plankenhorm, and Gary Nicholson, bassist Glen Fukunaga. There were also Nashville ses- sions, with Music City's usual superb playing, led by guitarist Gary Nicholson. Joe wrote all but two of the songs: "Magdalene" by Guy Clark and Ray Stephenson, and "When the Nights are Cold" by his original Flatlanders sidekick Butch Hancock.
This is a classic Joe Ely album. It has moved me, every time I've heard it, with a certain kind of awe. One reason is that, long before you hear "You Saved Me," he put everything he has into telling the world about a place in the world, and through that, reaching his own emotional center. It's beautiful and it's inspiring.
Karen Jonas will open, accompanied by Tim Bray. "Oklahoma Lottery" is her first solo record and she is going to work her way up to a place at the bar among a very crowded field of country-rock women. Karen Jonas has a knack for writing barroom ballads. Her songs about gangsters, ne'er do wells, and down and outers will make you want to buy someone a drink. You'll tap your foot despite yourself. You'll want to commiserate with her about her lost loves even while you back away slowly.
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LocationStone Room Concerts @ Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (View)
4444 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22204
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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