Audio Cassette review:
Joe Ely - Letter to Laredo

Joe Ely - Letter to Laredo

Band: Joe Ely Title: Letter to Laredo Rating: Release Date: 29 August, 1995 Media: Audio Cassette Tracks: 1: All Just to Get to You 2: Gallo del Cielo - Joe Ely, Raul Malo 3: Run Preciosa 4: Saint Valentine 5: Ranches and Rivers 6: Letter to Laredo 7: I Saw It in You 8: She Finally Spoke Spanish to Me 9: I Ain't Been Here Long 10: That Ain't Enough 11: I'm a Thousand Miles from Home

Editoral Review Those formative experiences are reflected in Letter to Laredo, which draws a line of Spanish-American influences--both thematic and musical--from the cowboy music of the West Texas ranch country, across the Rio Grande River to the mariachi music of northern Mexico, and across the Atlantic Ocean to the gypsy music of Spain. As a teenager, Joe Ely wandered about Lubbock, Texas, on weekend nights, listening to the Mexican farm workers strum guitars and sing their lilting corridos. In contrast to the hard-edged roots-rock feel of Ely's best known work, this project has an acoustic folk-rock feel, created by the convergence of Teye's flamenco guitar, Ponty Bone's Tex-Mex accordion, Lloyd Maines's honky-tonk steel guitar and Ely's own Dylanesque harmonica. Several of Ely's compositions--most notably "Run Preciosa," "Ranches and Rivers," and the title track--recall Cormac McCarthy's novels about penniless cowboys on the run from the law and angry fathers. In the same vein is Tom Russell's "Gallo del Cielo," a wonderful story-song about a Mexican peasant who steals his village's best fighting cock and carries it across the border in search of his fortune, and Butch Hancock's "She Finally Spoke Spanish to Me," a sequel to an earlier Hancock song recorded by Ely, "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me," which was itself a response to the old standard, "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue. " Longtime Ely fan Bruce Springsteen adds high, howling harmonies on two songs, including "All Just to Get to You," a worthy sequel to Ely's "Settle for Love" and "For Your Love. " --Geoffrey Himes .. You can see a complete list of all Joe Ely discography, or go back to the Joe Ely tabs