Joe Ely

Even though it's poorly mixed and you can barely hear the audience's response, Joe Ely's
Live Shots–which deftly documents a tumultuous Texan set loose in London – is the best
country-music album since Ely's last LP. Down on the Drag. A hoarse howler with a
perpetually exhausted, potato-puff face. Joe Ely is a wonderfully loony, charming
performer. And Live Shots captures a lot of the go-for-broke power that made hi... More >

Like a thousand blues and jazz guys before him, Ely is an American whose live album should have seen America first--not a year, a charting studio record, and a major endorsement after touring the U.K. The claim that this injustice was a corporate blunder is boogie bullsh*t: even prime material acutely performed sounds a little redundant in an artist whose fundamental is songs. Still, this is prime and acute. Let's hope he rides the Clash's tailwind right into downtown Lubbock. (Grade: B+)