Critics compared Joe Ely with Bruce Springsteen from the beginning.
In 2001, The Chicago Tribune opined, “Like Bruce Springsteen, Texas songwriter Joe Ely crafts brawny, epic song-stories about good-hearted crooks, blue-collar heroes and enduring lovers. In fact, the primary difference between Springsteen and Ely comes down to accent.”
By then, of course, Joe and Bruce had already become fast friends. They’d met in Dublin in 1993 when their individual tours intersected, and barely two years later, Bruce was in the studio contributing backing vocals and synthesizers to two tracks on Joe’s 1995 album, Letter to Laredo.
We listened to one of those tracks, “I’m a Thousand Miles From Home,” a few months back, but the subject of today’s profile is the more well-known of the pair: “All Just to Get to You.”
Ely had written it several years before with Will Sexton, who recorded it and released it in 1988. Joe waited until 1995 to record his own version, and it was worth the wait to have his new friend join him in the studio.
“All Just to Get to You” reads and sounds like a Springsteen song–like Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” refashioned as a love song. It’s catchy, easy to learn, and hard to get out of your head once you hear it.
It’s easy to understand why Bruce gravitated to it, and it’s easy to see why he was eager to perform it with Ely any time their paths crossed. They’ve played it seven times to date, on both their stages–but it was their 2001 performance at the Alliance of Neighbors benefits (shortly after the tragic events of September 11th) that remains their best.
In that performance below–televised at the time–Bruce and Joe trade lead vocals, and Bruce lets loose on lead guitar–a ferocious performance that leaves their studio recording in the dust.
It’s been fifteen years since Bruce and Joe last played “All Just to Get to You,” but don’t count it out it for good. When Bruce’s next tour heads down toward Texas, there’s a good chance we’ll see these two share the stage again.
All Just to Get to You
Recorded: April 1995
Released: Letter to Laredo (1995)
First performed: September 14, 1995 (West Hollywood, CA)
Last performed: April 14, 2008 (Houston, TX)
This was “electric!” Wow! I saw Garry and Roy playing and did I see Danny?
Cool! Never saw this before. Am I hearing a little of Human Touch in the music?