Silver City

Though they were recorded in 2007, these songs were written by Ely between 1968 and 1973, when he was in his early twenties. Some of them have surfaced since then (“Time for Travelin’” was on 1979’s Down On the Drag and “Silver City” was on 1987’s Lord of the Highway), but this body of work provides a missing link in the genealogy of the Ely and the Flatlanders. The songs are delivered with minimal, acoustic-based accompaniment (no drums), which is just right for “Indian Cowboy,” “Cloister Mountain” and “Wounded Knee” which are essentially folk songs in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. While the young Ely was clearly in awe of Guthrie and Bob Dylan, it's striking to note the maturity of “I Know Will Never Be Mine” and “Santa Rosa/St. Augustine.” Still, it's impossible to underestimate the authority vested in these old songs by Ely’s long-aged vocals. The music is at once simple and profound — the essence of folk music. Ely was an ambitious writer, but there is equivalent grace in “Windy Windy Windy,” which has the uncluttered charm of something by Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two.