Joe Ely

Photo from www.thesoundsoftexas.com

It may have been the best concert I have ever heard at the Duck.

It was definitely the most crowded one.

Joe Ely is a true legend in the Texas Music scene.

He has been performing and touring since the 1970's both as a solo artist and with the Flatlanders.

Last night he played two standing-room only concerts at the Duck. There were a whole lot of people standing too. I bought my standing-room only ticket for the first show about a week before the concert. I thought there might be a crowd so I showed up about two hours before the show. That was a good idea because when I got there there was only one space left at the bar. The other advantage to getting there early was that I got to hear Joe do his sound check and play through a couple of songs.

For the first show Joe played a good mix of his own songs and some written by others including his fellow Flatlanders Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Highlights from the first show included: "Run Little Pony", "Carnival Bum", "Dallas", Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner Blues", "95 South", "Me and Billy the Kid", "Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown", "Up on the Ridge", "If you were a Bluebird", Terry Allen's "Gimme a ride to Heaven" and "I'm gonna strangle you Shorty".

The audience was really into the show. Joe's performances of "Dallas","Me and Billy the Kid" and "Gimme a ride to Heaven" were crowd favorites that had most clapping and singing along.

My only complaint was that the concert was over all too soon. Next time Joe comes through town I will make sure to buy tickets for both shows.

Joe Ely's recordings can be purchased both here and here.