Joe Ely and Joel Guzman

Joe Ely’s music is informed by the arid, wide-open sensibilities of his West Texas origins. In all of Ely’s songs, like a – rhythm beneath the melody, lies a sense of turbulence—wind, thunderstorms and tornadoes figure prominently—a beckoning, distant horizon and an aching sense of restlessness.

Those timeless American themes, combined with Ely’s determined and unpredictable Tex-Mex mixture of rock, country, blues, folk, zydeco and norteño, have propelled the Texas native to the top ranks of Lone Star lyricists. In addition, Ely’s command of the stage has always been absolute. In the most visceral way possible, you haven’t experienced Joe Ely until you’ve seen him on a honky-tonk stage.

Joe teams with longtime accompanist, accordion maestro Joel Guzman on his new live record ‘LIVE Cactus!’ “He just nailed it,” said Ely of those sessions. “I don’t play traditional stuff, and Joel has the uncanny ability to find that inner rhythm inside of a song, and he can match that to enhance the song. He’s very articulate in the notes that he plays.”