Letter To Laredo

Joe Ely | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: February 6, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CBuJ
• ASIN: B000M2E37M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,129 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. All Just to Get to You

2. Gallo del Cielo

3. Run Preciosa

4. Saint Valentine

5. Ranches and Rivers

6. Letter to Laredo

7. I Saw It in You

8. She Finally Spoke Spanish to Me

9. I Ain't Been Here Long

10. That Ain't Enough

11. I'm a Thousand Miles from Home

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ely's not a wannabe Tejano....he's the real thing, May 5, 2000

By 

Robin Black Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letter to Laredo (Audio CD)

The reviewer below not only doesn't "get" Ely's music, he also clearly doesn't know much about the singer's background. Ely has strong tejano roots, so his connection to the music is quite legitimate. This album is a quasi-concept album, and is a slight departure from Ely's usual fare. It was inspired by Cormac McCarthy's book All The Pretty Horses, and the producers of the movie (now in production) got wind of this and were smart enough to call on Mr. Ely to do soundtrack work on the forthcoming film. This album is one of Ely's best, and will make any exiled southwestern native (like myself) deeply homesick. Listen and enjoy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Tex-Mex, September 26, 2002

By 

Big Dave (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letter to Laredo (Audio CD)

I'm a big fan of a lot of Texas songwriters: Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, etc., so I expected to like this album. But instead, I love it.

The flamenco guitar on most tracks give it a feel similar to Willie Nelson's album "Spirit", but with more explicitly Latino and Texas narratives and more of a rock and roll drive.

Ely is a great songwriter, with a gift for precise, striking images full of character -- you know EXACTLY what Saint Valentine looks like. He's also a wonderful interpreter; the cockfighting ballad Gallo Del Cielo, for instance, is beautiful and tragic and very true.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letter to Laredo is the best of Joe Ely, October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Letter to Laredo (Audio CD)

What can I say about Joe Ely that the people in the know haven't already said? Just that this album touches my soul, makes me think there are still real people in the music world.Being a West Texas girl, Ranches and Rivers is probably the best on this great album.