Country star Joe Ely dies at 78

A country music singer/songwriter who took his sound into the world of pop and rock has died.

Joe Ely was 78 years old.

His family announced his death, saying that he died from pneumonia but had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease, The New York Times reported.

He was called “Lord of the Highway” with the Times saying he was “from a long tradition of Texas troubadours” who was influenced by country icons such as Gene Autry and rock & roll legends such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Ely’s sound was called Americana, also called alt-country, which challenged the Nashville version of country, with songs that focused on stories of love and tales from everyday people found across America.

He was able to blend country, Tex-Mex, blues and rock to make his own genre along with other musicians like Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Delbert McClinton

Ely was from Amarillo, Texas, but was raised in Lubbock before he moved to Austin and helped create the music the city is known for, Billboard said.

For a while, he went under the radar with his band the Flatlanders, Rolling Stone explained. He even toured with the Ringling Bros. circus taking care of the horses and nearly being trampled by elephants.

But then he came back to music and released a solo album, Rolling Stone reported.

“Joe Ely came out of West Texas like a rocket and shock the Austin City Limits stage like nobody before or since– over 10 times!,” Austin City Limits executive producer Terry Lickona told Billboard.

Lickona called Ely, who was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2022, Texas’s Bruce Springsteen.

But he wasn’t pigeonholed into only the country genre. He opened for The Clash in 1979 and 1980 and the Rolling Stones in 1981, Billboard said. He also opened for Linda Ronstadt in the 1980s and performed with Paul McCartney in 1990.

He also hit the charts with “Musta Notta Gotta Lotta” which was No. 135 on the Billboard 200 and No. 12 on the Top Country Albums chart.

Springsteen said of Ely’s music, “It’s got that slight Southern country twang, it’s got a hint of rockabilly,” adding, “It’s got the depth and emotion of Johnny Cash and it’s as deeply authentic as his Texas roots.” The Boss made the comments as he presented Ely with an American Music Honors award from the Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music, Rolling Stone reported.

“I’ve just been lucky that the records seem to find their own audience,” Ely said in 2011, according to the publication. “They kind of wind around, and maybe have to go down some twists and turns and up some alleys and round some bayous and stuff, but eventually they find their audience.”

He released his final album, “Love and Freedom,” this year after continuing to record music after his Lewy Body dementia and Parkinson’s diagnoses.

Ely left behind his wife and daughter, according to Billboard.