The Lubbock Tapes: Full Circle - Joe Ely

When Joe Ely left Lubbock to conquer the country with a hair-raising live band and a suitcase full of songs, on paper it may have looked like a long shot but in reality there was no way it could lose. Ely was that good. In the mid-'70s he jacked-up country music right into the rock & roll zone, and had the charisma of a wind-blown Elvis Presley who read books and had the looks to match. 

While it might not have happened as quick as first thought, the fact is that today Joe Ely is just about in a party of one for Texans who stuck to their guns and still split the atom. The Lubbock Tapes: Full Circle is a compilation of early demos made before Ely's first album and later ones for his third album. They are an intriguing peek into a work-in-progress and then a period of growth. 

Through it all are the songs by Ely, along with some by fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock, that capture Texas music better than anyone before or since.

1. Windmills and Watertanks
2. Because of the Wind
3. Road Hawg
4. Standin' at a Big Hotel
5. Gambler's Bride
6. Fools Fall in Love
7. If You Were a Bluebird
8. B.B.Q & Foam
9. Down on the Drag
10. I'll Be Your Fool
11. I Keep Getting Paid the Same
12. Joe's Cryin' Schottiche
13. I Had My Hopes Up High
14. All My Love 1
15. Maria