I went out last night to the beautiful Hyatt Lost Pines Resort east of Austin. What a lovely place! It was all decorated for Christmas and there were families everywhere enjoying the weekend. I went for the Joe Ely show. I was “working” it (ah, what a job), so I was out there in the afternoon for sound check. The people that work at the Lost Pines are so nice and competent. They made it all so easy for me, knowing that they had the sound system and set up well in hand. Joe’s people were all very nice, too.
Joe and I go way back, though he doesn’t really know it. The first time I made an introduction on stage was at the Gold Sox Stadium in Amarillo, Texas, in about June of 1979. My radio station, KBUY, had a big free concert event with Wendell Adkins, Joe Ely, and Hank Williams, Jr. Since I was the low man on the totem pole, I didn’t get to introduce Hank, Jr., which was fine by me. My job was to “outro” Joe Ely. After he was done, I was the one that had to lead the applause and say, “Let’s get him back out here!” That was the first time I had ever been in front of an audience as a “radio personality.” I adored Joe Ely and his Honky Tonk Masquerade album was one of my favorites, so it was a real thrill. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I should have met his band members, too. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I realized that Lloyd Maines was his steel player. Ponty Bone may have been there as his accordion player, too, I don’t know. I don’t even know what other instruments were there and I wouldn’t even know it was Lloyd except that he is in a picture I took. As it turned out, I got the prime role on stage because Hank Williams Jr. decided not to perform because his allergies were acting up or something. I don’t even remember how we announced that to the audience or how they took it, I just know he didn’t play and the “star” of the radio station ended up never being on the stage, I don’t think.
Years go by and I am always a Joe Ely fan. I think he played the 1986 Sesquicentennial event at Auditorium Shores that I came down to Austin for.
Finally we move to Austin and I start seeing him just about everywhere I go. Joe Ely is not a reclusive artist. I ran into him one night at Jovita’s and had a nice conversation with him about Amarillo. Yes, he is from Lubbock and everyone knows that and talks about that, but he was born in Amarillo (the same hospital as me) and he lived there until he was 10. He said his fondest memories of his growing up years were in Amarillo. A year or so went by and I ran into him again at the Best Buy one day. Once I saw him and his family and maybe even Jimmie Dale Gilmore eating at the Thai restaurant. He’s everywhere!
So now I get to see him in a real concert with his full band. He had Joel Guzman on accordion and I love him. And Davis McClarty was his drummer. I know Davis now as a booking agent and forget that he is a drummer, too. It was fun to get to see him in this different role. He’s good. He’s very very good, as was the whole band. Jimmy Pettit was on bass and David Holt played guitar. I loved it all, but was thrilled to hear him do “Boxcars” live. That’s from that original album I loved so much.
This was not one of Joe’s “rock” shows since the crowd was small and intimate. His subtle sense of humor was cute. He laughed about the newspaper of Lubbock being the Avalanche-Journal. I’ve known that all my life and never thought about it being funny. Avalanche? In a flat prairie? Where did that come from? And he also was talking about Billy Joe Shaver before he performed “Live Forever.” He said something about Billy Joe being inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame. “Or ‘indicted’ as Billy Joe called it,” he said. “But that came later, as we know,” (referring to Billy Joe’s later arrest for shooting a man).
I also enjoyed meeting a photographer named Patti that goes to ALL the Joe Ely shows (or it seemed so, she’s seen him about 75 times, she estimates). We had dinner together and it was interesting to hear all about her experiences and friendships with so many artists. She lived in New York for years and would drive hours to see a show (and then hours home, too). Quite dedicated. Me, the fair-weather-fan, that sometimes won’t go downtown to see a friend play for no good reason, felt guilty. She and I were quite surprised to find that one of her favorite artists, an artist from New York that she knew I would not have heard of, was also one of my favorite artists. Check him out: Frank Carillo. You can listen to his whole albums online there. I have “Bad Out There” and love it. Highly recommended.
So it was a good weekend with Thanksgiving and Joe Ely and now December is here! Check out my main site for a couple of changes. More to come soon, I hope. Janice Williams Austin
