Joe Ely
Letter To Laredo

This album is a masterpiece! It's not just my personal opinion that might seem exaggerated or superficial, but I believe it's a view shared by all those who were positively affected by listening to this work in 1995. And yet, the Texan Joe Ely, before this album, had already secured a respectable place in the diverse American music scene thanks to successful works like "Honky Tonk Masquerade," "Lord Of The Highway," and "Love And Danger."

With "Letter To Laredo," he performs his artistic miracle. Few musicians of the time could boast such a clear and superb writing ability as Joe Ely demonstrates in this album. Leaving behind electric riffs and primordial rock'n'roll, well documented in the adrenaline-pumped "Live At Liberty Lunch," "Letter To Laredo" presents itself as a majestic, meticulously crafted, and predominantly acoustic musical fresco. A complete, total, captivating work full of content where the guitars and percussion evoke Andalusia, the Arab countries, Garcia Lorca, Buddy Holly, promised lands, broken dreams, and the desire for redemption. A remarkable artistic and cultural melting pot connected to the traditional roots of American music, of which Joe Ely has always been a faithful interpreter. "Letter To Laredo" is the peak of inspiration for its honest author. The culmination of his musical experiences, passions, loves, and hopes. An album that, in the end, maintains the same variety as "Kiko" by Los Lobos and the same coordinates as Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" but musically opens spontaneously and seamlessly to many influences. Influences, not just musical, that become evident as soon as the magical flamenco guitar of Teye, a musician of Dutch origin, enters the scene, providing sensations through his touch on the instrument that, with each listen, become almost visible. "Letter To Laredo" offers a series of splendid and proud songs. Joe doesn’t do everything by himself but relies on the presence of a series of most welcomed guests. Bruce Springsteen offers his unique voice in the opening "All Just To Get To You," an electric and vibrant piece, and in the concluding and nostalgic "I'm Thousand Miles From Home," a track that certainly would not have looked out of place on "The Ghost Of Tom Joad." Butch Hancock gives the old friend the beautiful "She Finally Spoke Spanish To Me," while Jimmie Dale Gilmore duets with Joe in the reflective "I Saw It In You."

As the album progresses, Ely’s writing remains as sharp as ever, demonstrated by the wild "Run Preciosa," the dreamy "Saint Valentine," the lively "Ranches And Rivers," the relaxed "That Ain't Enough," the almost-Dylanesque "I Ain't Been Here Long," featuring a great David Grissom, and the remarkable title-track, which has, among other things, a thrilling acoustic finale. All musical postcards that take us, thanks to the impressions created by Teye's guitar and Joe's narrative voice, to distant places we have come to know thanks to those films set on the Mexican border. Mexico, where the story within the splendid "Gallo Del Cielo" unfolds, a piece originally by Tom Russell that Joe personalizes in his unique way, aided by the ever-present Teye. This track, for me, the crown jewel of the work, seems like a film script with a bitter ending. The duet offered in the song with the great Raul Malo of the Mavericks and the accordion accompaniment by Ponty Bone provide yet another priceless emotion to an album that, even after years, hasn't lost any of its enormous charm. But this only happens to albums destined to remain forever. The masterpieces. A category to which "Letter To Laredo" rightly belongs.