Joe Ely, Texas Country-Rock Hero Who Grew His Fan Base Touring With the Clash, Dies at 78

Joe Ely, the singer-songwriter who helped drive a new wave of Texas-based music that united rock and country fans in the 1980s and beyond, died Monday. The cause of death was complications from Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and pneumonia.

An announcement from the family said that Ely died at his home in Taos, New Mexico, with his wife and manager, Sharon, and daughter, Marie, at this side.

Ely had announced his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s in a Facebook post on Sept. 9, “not to dwell in hardship, but to bring understanding, awareness and hope through the healing power of music,” he and his wife said in a statement at the time.

“My hero… my template… my friend… Joe Ely passed today,” tweeted Monte Warden, of another pioneering roots-rock act to rise up in that era, the Wagoneers. “He means as much to me as Buddy, Elvis or Don Everly. Such an artist. Texan. I’m just…heartbroken.”

“Joe Ely performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believer who knew music could transport souls,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “His distinctive musical style could only have emerged from Texas, with its southwestern blend of honky-tonk, rock & roll, roadhouse blues, western swing, and conjunto.” While hailing Ely’s long catalog of recordings, Young said that “his true measure came through in the dynamic intensity of his powerhouse live performances, where he could stand his ground aside fellow zealots Bruce Springsteen, who recorded duets with Ely, and the Stones and the Clash, who took Ely on tour as an opening act.”

Ely was recognized as one of the more poetic souls of the Texas-rooted country-rock scene to rise up in the late ’70s and ’80s, but his shows often turned into sweaty rave-ups, as if Willie Nelson were overtaken by the spirit of rockabilly.

In 1999, Modern Twang writer David Goodman called the Lubbock-bred Ely “the consummate alternative country artist of the last 25 years,” and the passage of another quarter-century and change since that remark was made has not dimmed the accuracy of the description, in the minds of many roots-rock aficionados.

A famous fan, Bruce Springsteen, said of Ely, “I’ve been blessed to sing on his records and be onstage with Joe on occasion and the only thing I can say is: Thank God he wasn’t born in New Jersey. I would have had a lot more of my work cut out for me.”

However much his music was country-based, at least in its earliest stages, Ely was beloved by several generations of rockers, many of whom first discovered him in plum spots opening for the biggest artists of the day, at their behest. Forty-five years ago this week, Ely was working as a support act for the Rolling Stones on a stadium tour, and he is equally renowned and remembered for his stint opening for the Clash. He also opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 17 times, along with acts including Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, the Pretenders, the Kinks and Jimmy Cliff.

The fans he made doing those warmup gigs tended to stay fans throughout the decades, well after the fame by association of being favored by the Stones had worn off.

His best-known album may have been “Musta Notta Gotta Lotta,” which was the fourth recording he put out with MCA Records, with whom he signed in the 1970s. Earlier albums, including 1977’s self-titled debut, 1978’s “Honky Tonk Masquerade” and 1979’s “Down on the Drag,” may have been just as good, and produced at least as many classic country songs. But it was the harder-rocking tone of “Musta Notta…” — along with all those gigs with the superstars — that kicked his career into gear with a wider audience.

Ely’s mercurial streak did not mean that he limited his output to “outlaw country.” Indeed, with his next album, 1984’s “Hi-Res,” he looked to broaden his sound beyond his essential roots appeal. But the reception to the departure this new music represented was mixed, and he soon parted ways with MCA, although he and the company would reunite in the ’90s.

Other career highlights included “Lord of the Highway” from 1987, the first of two albums he would cut for Hightone Records. The most recent of his 17 studio albums was “Love and Freedom,” released earlier this year.

His signature songs included “Honky Tonk Masquerade,” “Fingernails,” “Dallas,” “Hard Livin’,” “Wishin’ for You” and “She Never Spoke Spanish to Me.”

Ely was born in Amarillo and moved to Lubbock at 11. He formed the Flatlanders in 1971 with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, whose material he recorded during his later solo career, as well. They released only one album during their initial lifespan, but reunited for “Now Again” in 2002 and a followups in 2004, 2009 and 2021.

After the Flatlanders broke up after one album, he had a stint working for the Ringling Brothers Circus, then found employment as a roofer. Forming his own band in Austin in the mid-’70s, he played the venue that would later become Stubb’s, alternating nights with Stevie Ray Vaughan.

It was Jerry Jeff Walker’s recommendation that was said to have led to the MCA signing in 1975.

Ely’s association with the Clash extended beyond his opening their gigs. He sang backup on “Should I Stay or Should I Go?,” and he was mentioned by name in the “Sandinista!” song “If Music Could Talk” (“Well there ain’t no better blend than Joe Ely and his Texas Men”).

In the 1990s, he formed a short-lived supergroup called the Buzzin’ Cousins with John Mellencamp, John Prine and James McMurtry, which resulted in his sole Grammy nomination.

His “Hi-Res” album in the mid-’80s was not his only more experimental work. His album “B4 84” was reported to be one of the first albums ever recorded on an Apple II desktop computer, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wrote the liner notes.

He was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2022. Prior to that, in 2007, Ely was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Live Performance by the Americana Music Association; named the Texas State Musician for 2016; and, in that same year, inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association Hall of Fame that same year.

His family said that more information would be forthcoming in the coming days.