Honky Tonk Masquerade

Infobox Album
Name = Honky Tonk Masquerade
Type = studio
Artist = Joe Ely


Released = 1978
Recorded = Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Genre = country
Length = 33:57
Label = MCA
Producer = Chip Young
Reviews =
* "Allmusic" Rating|5|5 Mark Deming, "Review: "Honky Tonk Masquerade", "Allmusic" ( [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wys9keft7q7c link] )]
* Robert Christgau (A) Robert Christgau, "Consumer Guide", ( [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=664&name=Joe+Ely link] )]
* "Dirty Linen" (favorable) "Linen Shorts" [short review of Joe Ely - "Joe Ely/Honky Tonk Masquerade" and New Riders of the Purple Sage - "Gypsy Cowboy/The Adventures of Panama Red"] , "Dirty Linen", 94, June-July 2001, p.79]
* "Music Hound" Rating|3|5 "Music Hound", USA, 1998-99 [according to [http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/ acclaimedmusic.net] ]
* Piero Scaruffi (7/10) Piero Scaruffi, www.scaruffi.com, Italy ( [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/ely.html link (mix of English and Italian)] )]
* "Rolling Stone" Rating|4.5|5 Rolling Stone", 269, July 12, 1978 ( [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/joeely/albums/album/126155/review/5940447/honky_tonk_masquerade link] ) [note: The album is rated 4.5/5 stars in the "Rolling Stone Album Guide", USA, 1992] ]
Last album = "Joe Ely"
(1977)
This album = "Honky Tonk Masquerade"
(1978)
Next album = "Down the Drag"
(1979)

"Honky Tonk Masquerade" is a 1978 album by Joe Ely. It is the critically acclaimed follow-up to his self-titled solo debut

Critical acclaim

Ely's second album has been highly regarded by critics around the world. It was included in the 2005 book, "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".Robert Dimery (ed), "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", Cassell Illustrated, 2005 ( [http://rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker//1001albums.htm link to list] )] Writer Steve Pond places the album at number 40 on "Rolling Stone's" list of "50 Essential Albums of the 70s", calling it "the decade's most sure-footed country-rock collaboration". Steve Pond, "The Seventies Reconsidered: 50 Essential Albums of the Decade", "Rolling Stone" Seventies retrospective issue, 1990 ( [http://www.superseventies.com/50essent.html link] )] Pond places the album in the same class as such 1970s "country landmarks" as Guy Clark's "Old No. 1", Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger", and Terry Allen's "Lubbock (On Everything)". In addition, New Zealand critic Fred Muller places the album on his list of the top ten "best albums of the rock era".Fred Muller, "The Top Ten albums: The albums of the rock era", "AudioEnz", New Zealand, January 2001 ( [http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2001/0102.html link] )]

LP track listing

All songs by Joe Ely except as indicated.

ide one

# "Cornbread Moon" – 3:29
# "Because of the Wind" – 4:02
# "Boxcars" (Butch Hancock) – 4:03
# "Jericho (Your Walls Must Come Tumbling Down)" (Hancock) – 2:54
# "Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown" (Jimmie Dale Gilmore, John Reed) – 2:12

ide two

# "Honky Tonk Masquerade" – 3:46
# "I'll Be Your Fool" – 2:52
# "Fingernails" – 2:13
# "West Texas Waltz" (Hancock) – 5:03
# "Honky Tonkin'" (Hank Williams) – 3:27

Credits

Credits as listed in liner notes.Reporting of the liner notes for this article were from the MCA CD release, MCAD-10220]

Musicians

* Acoustic guitar – Joe Ely
* Steel – Lloyd Maines
* Drums – Steve Keeton
* Bass – Gregg Wright
* Accordion & piano – Ponty Bone
* Electric/acoustic guitar – Jesse Taylor "Jesse Taylor, guitarist: born Lubbock, Texas 1950; (three daughters); died Austin, Texas 7 March 2006.", [obituary] , "The Independent", March 11, 2006 ( [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article350589.ece link] )]
* Electric/acoustic guitar – Chip Young
* Moog synthesizer & acoustic piano – Shane Keister
* Percussion – Farrell Morris
* background vocals – Lea Jane Berinati, Ginger Holloday, Lisa Silver, Jesse Taylor, Lloyd Maines and Gregg Wright
* Butch Hancock - backgrond vocals on "West Texas Waltz"

Production

* Produced by Chip Young
* Recorded/remixed: Youngun' Sounds Studios, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
** Engineer – Chip Young
* Mastering Studio: MCA Recording Studios, Universal City, California
** Mastering Engineer – Larry Boden
* Digitally re-mastered at Masterfonics using the JVC Digital Audio Mastering System
** Engineer – Glenn Meadows

Artwork

* Cover photo – Paul Milosevich

Releases

In 2000, a remastered edition of Ely's first two albums ("Joe Ely" and "Honky Tonk Masquerade") were released together on a single disk. "Dirty Linen" reported that this disk was especially worth seeking out since it was (at least at the time), "the only place on two continents you can get Ely's debut". The reviewer described Ely's first two albums together: "Ely's self-titled effort and "HTM" are a bit leaner than most of his other honky-tonk rockers, with a bit more piano than electric guitar backing his lonesome warble -- dry and forceful as the wind whistling through Waco."

Notes and sources