Hightone Records
2004
Settle For Love
About This Album
When Joe Ely left MCA for the first time after 1984's Hi-Res, he hid out for a few years before landing with Oakland blues and R&B label High Tone. It was a stretch for the label, and given Ely's new band, proved to be one for him as well. His Lubbock c*m Austin country/rockabilly septet (which included Lloyd Maines, Jesse Taylor, and Ponty Bone) had been honed to a quartet that was built around young guitar slinger David Grissom and played Texas-brand rock & roll. Settle for Love compiles ten tracks from Ely's two High Tone outings, 1987's Lord of the Highway and 1988's Dig All Night, and adds a couple of bonus cuts to round it out to 12. The five tracks from the former include the Spanish-flavored "Row of Dominoes," the studio versions of his road staples "Are You Listenin', Lucky?" and "Me & Billy the Kid," and the amazing "Letter to L.A." This latter song offers an interesting view of Ely in transition; one can hear the influences of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp, with its epic length (for Ely), its winding guitar solo by Grissom, and the saxophone lines by guest Bobby Keys. Additionally, he wrote all but the title cut (by Butch Hancock).
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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