He was not only a great drummer but our favorite person to hang around with. He was this big, lovable bear with tons of great stories.
"Joe Ely" is an United States/American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas Country, Tejano music/Tex-Mex and rock and roll.
He has had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Tupelo, Los Super Seven, The Chieftains and James McMurtry in addition to his early work with The Clash and more recent acoustic tours with Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and Guy Clark.
More Joe Ely on Wikipedia.He handed me a record out of his backpack that he'd just made in San Francisco. We played that record for the next days, months and years. It was an eye-opener. We were just beginning to write songs, and Townes set a whole new standard for how songs should be written.
I (think) he was trying to find some hint of his childhood. He struggled with the memories. That may be why his songs were so dark: He was looking into a well.
T.J. was crazy for the blues. We were in a band together back in the eighth grade, and T.J. would listen to Jimmy Reed almost nonstop. He got his drum style from that old country blues and then later applied it to Western swing.
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