Joe Ely has been a prime mover in Americana music since the days before it was called Americana. From the early-’70s origins of the Flatlanders with his childhood Lubbock pals Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, through a run of MCA albums that earned him an opening slot on a Clash tour, to a mid-career resurgence with HighTone Records and beyond, he's been recording memorable music for more than five decades.
And after 50-odd years, Ely has a lot left over in his vaults. Drawing on that rich cache, he released Love And Freedom on Feb. 7, featuring 12 unreleased songs. The songs are connected by the dovetailing themes of the album’s title, which was the file-name he’d given a digital folder where he’d stashed away these particular songs.
