ELY, JOE
(*1947)
ELY, JOE (b. Amarillo, Tex., September 2, 1947) Another oddball Texas SINGER/SONGWRITER whose music defies categorization, Ely has enjoyed only sporadic success, much like his friends and onetime bandmates, BUTCH HANCOCK and JIMMIE DALE GILMORE . Born to a nonmusical farming family, Joe began taking violin lessons at age eight, followed a few years later by steel-guitar lessons (taught by a door-to-door salesman/teacher); by his early teens he had switched to regular GUITAR, and began playing…