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ALL GREASED UP, ONE TACO TO GO

Joe Ely shares a trait with another product of Texas, for like Dr. Pepper, he’s one of “America’s most misunderstood.” Similar to another fellow native of Lubbock, Buddy Holly, Ely writes songs from a country base but plays rock ’n’ roll. Yet he operates as if there’s not a hint of contradiction in anything he does.

July 1, 1981
Rob Patterson

ALL GREASED UP, ONE TACO TO GO

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DOWN ON THE DRAG WITH JOE ELY

by

Rob Patterson

Joe Ely shares a trait with another product of Texas, for like Dr. Pepper, he’s one of “America’s most misunderstood.” Similar to another fellow native of Lubbock, Buddy Holly, Ely writes songs from a country base but plays rock ’n’ roll. Yet he operates as if there’s not a hint of contradiction in anything he does.

“I still consider myself a country artist,” he says, although the context in which he makes the statement belies the fact that this ol’ country boy’s a man of many worlds. The last two major acts he toured with were Linda Ronstadt and the Clash—hardly musical bedmates, but both Ely admirers. He sits in Katz’s, Austin’s, Texas’s New York style deli, looking the epitome of “punkabilly” (Ely’s description of his direction) , which I guess is somewhere between a plate of nachos and hot pastrami.

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