Letter to Laredo
Joe Ely
Bruce Springsteen, El Gato, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Ponty Bone
Producer: Joe Ely
CBUJ Entertainment, 2007
1 CD
Catalogue #: 071920
EAN: 0829569071920
UPC: 829569071920
You save: 20%
Personnel: Joe Ely (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica); Bruce Springsteen (vocals); Lloyd Maines (dobro, slide guitar, steel guitar); David Grissom (acoustic & electric guitars); Teye (Spanish guitar); Ponty Bone (accordion); Glenn Fukunaga (bass); Davis McLarty (drums); Chris Searles (percussion); Raul Malo, Jimmie Dale Gillmore, El Gato (background vocals).
Engineers: Little Johnny Fader, James Tuttle, Jim Wilson.
Recorded at Spur Studios, Austin, Texas. Includes liner notes by Joe Nick Patoski.
LETTER TO LAREDO was something of a departure for Joe Ely, especially after the aggressive, roots-rock energy of his late-1980s work. Yet LETTER is a stand-out in his discography. Reflective and lovely, the album is buoyed by Ely's high lonesome voice, steel guitar, accordion, and flamenco guitarist Teye's lilting fretwork. Like many of Ely's albums, LETTER is filled with story-songs, but this is a particularly evocative collection, painting a vivid, dusty picture of the Southwest with its ranches, cantinas, and startling landscapes, and its hybrids of cowboy and Mexican life.
As such, the songs on LETTER are very much of a piece, and play almost like a collection of short stories. While the flamenco guitar casts a vague gypsy spell over the proceedings, the musical backdrop is colored with regionally specific allusions to ranchera, mariachi, and hard country, over which Ely unfurls captivating tales of outlaws and outsiders. Former bandmate Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Bruce Springsteen are among the guest artists contributing to this distinctive, absorbing release.
Tracklist
Joe Ely
From his early-1970s beginnings with seminal country band the Flatlanders, Joe Ely has seen substantial critical acclaim but only moderate commercial success. His music, which is often described as a bridge between early-'70s country-rock and '90s "New Country," is full of integrity and equipped with a certain timeless quality that marks only the finest rock songwriters. Ely is an acclaimed live performer as well. His style and approach may never produce hits, but his music speaks strongly for itself.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious E Street Band. After toughening up his sound, Springsteen created his 1975 masterpiece, BORN TO RUN, which garnered critical acclaim for its blend of Spectorian grandeur and street poetry. Nine years later, BORN IN THE U.S.A. made him a worldwide superstar with its beefed-up stadium-rock sound. Along the way, he's produced such low-key acoustic-based milestones as NEBRASKA and THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD, never losing the blue-collar ethos that is central to his vision. His 2002 album, THE RISING, is considered one of the finest artistic responses to the 9/11tragedy produced in the event's immediate aftermath.
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is one of the founding fathers of progressive country. His recording career began with the Flatlanders. He and his Lubbock singer-songwriter cohorts Joe Ely and Butch Hancock recorded the first Flatlanders album in 1972, but it didn't see widespread release until years later. In the late '80s, Gilmore began a solo recording career in earnest, and by the '90s he'd become one of the most revered singers in modern country music, particularly admired by the younger alt-country artists.
