Beloved country artist Joe Ely has died aged 78, months after he announced his diagnosis with two incurable diseases.
Ely was known for fusing rock and country genres in his songwriting, and supported rock bands like The Clash and the Rolling Stones on tour throughout his career.
The legend died at his home Monday in Taos, New Mexico, from complications of Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia, his family announced in a statement on his Facebook page. He died with his wife and manager, Sharon, and his daughter, Marie, by his side.
News of the Grammy-winning songwriter’s death comes months after Ely announced he had been diagnosed with LBD and Parkinson’s in September.
“Together with his wife Sharon, Joe is sharing their journey—not to dwell in hardship, but to bring understanding, awareness, and hope through the healing power of music,” the family’s statement said at the time. The statement also announced Ely and his wife’s plans to release archival recordings they had rediscovered.
“Our story is about how music continues to lift us up,” Sharon said in the statement. “Revisiting Joe’s recordings and hearing them brought to life again has given him so much joy, and we want others to feel that same joy too.”
The statement announcing Ely’s death remembered the artist as “a leader of the extraordinary parade of artists raised in Lubbock who later settled in the live music capital of Austin.”
“Ely signed with MCA Records in the 1970s and spent more than five decades recording and performing around the world,” the statement read.
He bridged the gap between country and rock fans by opening for rock acts like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Kinks, the Pretenders, and Stevie Nicks. Plus, in addition to supporting The Clash in 1979, he sang backup vocals on the group’s hit song “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”
The Texan released 17 studio albums albums throughout his career and played in the Flatlanders and Los Super Seven, the supergroup that won the 1999 Grammy for best Mexican/Mexican-American album. His best-known album, Musta Notta Gotta Lotta, charted in the Billboard 200 after its release in 1981, and his most recent album, Love and Freedom, was released earlier this year.
The Flatlanders, made up of Ely and fellow Texans Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, was honored in the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2016. Ely was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2022.
“Joe Ely performed roots music like a true believer who knew music could transport souls,” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said in a statement on X after news of Ely’s death.
“His musical style could only have emerged from Texas. His true measure came through in the dynamic intensity of his powerhouse live perofrmances, where he could stand his ground aside fellow zealots Bruce Springsteen who recorded duets with Ely, and the Stones and he Clash, who took Ely on tour as an opening act.
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