Joe Ely

Joe Ely is a son of the South Plains, born on February 9, 1947 in Lubbock, Texas. As a teen he practiced with a small country band in (what was unknown to him at the time) had been the childhood home of rock and roll co-founder and Lubbock native Buddy Holly. He was and continues to be a member of The Flatlanders, which he co-founded with prolific songwriter Butch Hancock and musician / actor Jimmie Dale Gilmore (best known as "Smokey" in The Big Lebowski (1998) ). He is best known as the leader of the long-lived Joe Ely Band which, among others, included Lloyd Maines, Jesse Taylor and Ponty Bone. The band enjoyed a great deal of commercial success in the late seventies and eighties, primarily with the MCA label. He and guitarist Jesse Taylor were responsible for establishing the weekly Stubbs Barbeque Jam at a tiny restaurant in Lubbock, which became the regional hot spot for live blues, having such an impact that the grounds of the long-since razed restaurant is now the site of a hi