OC LIVE : POP MUSIC : A Little Texas Flamenco : Joe Ely Adds a Spanish Flavor to His ‘Letter From Laredo’

Throughout his restless life, Texas troubadour Joe Ely has relished being on the open road and changing directions on little more than a whim.

He has hopped freights, hitched rides, worked in the circus and even sung for his supper. His inquisitive nature, wandering spirit and impulsiveness inform his music with a streetwise sense of reality.

His latest release, “Letter to Laredo,” is a prime example. Ely, now 48, was practically finished writing songs for the album when he set off in a new direction. His plans for a solo acoustic project withered away when the enticing sounds of one man and his flamenco guitar grabbed hold of Ely and refused to let go.

This improbable tale began several years ago, when Ely had been traveling in Spain. While visiting in Cordoba, Grenada and Seville, he was introduced to the sensual notes and sweet flavor of the flamenco guitar. Although not planning to record them, Ely was inspired to write a couple of songs.

A short time after he returned to his home in Austin, he got a call from a friend wondering whether he had any songs that a flamenco guitarist friend of his named Teye could play. The European Teye grew up in Holland, became fascinated with Spanish music and then moved to Spain to study with the old Gypsies. So Ely, remembering the songs he’d written in Spain while becoming enamored with flamenco music, invited Teye to his studio. That very evening they recorded their first two songs together.

“As I was writing more songs for my new album, I kept going back to this one song [‘Run Preciosa’] that Teye and I did and kept thinking this had a special thing, something mysterious and different,” recalled Ely by phone from his home. “I didn’t really know how to follow the thread, but I knew it would be fun to try.”

Teye’s playing became an integral part of the subsequent “Letter to Laredo,” which is Ely’s strongest effort since 1978’s landmark “Honky Tonk Masquerade.” And longtime compadres Lloyd Maines on dobro, steel and slide guitars, David Grissom on acoustic and electric guitars, plus guest appearances by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Maverick vocalist Raul Malo and Bruce Springsteen, combine to bolster stories of hopeless romantics, downtrodden drifters and whiskey drinkin’ cowboys galloping over dusty deserts and rolling plains.

On his current all-acoustic tour, which saddles up to the Coach House on Monday night, Ely has stripped the lineup down to Teye on flamenco guitar, Glenn Fukunaga on upright bass, and himself on acoustic guitar and vocals.

Ely was born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, a small border town that’s also produced the likes of Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison and the legendary Buddy Holly. At around 10 years old, he fell in love with the kind of border music--ranchero, conjunto and norteno, of Mexico’s working class--that laborers would play and sing in the streets around Ely’s father’s used-clothing store.

“Thousands of laborers would come in truckloads in the late spring and really liven up downtown Lubbock, and not just with the happy sounds of their ranchero ballads, but also with their laughter and the sweet smell of fresh corn tortillas,” Ely fondly recalled. “I thought it was a magical time, and all of these memories come back to me when I start writing songs.”

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The seeds of Ely’s professional songwriting career were planted in the 1970s, when he was a member of the Flatlanders. Featuring band mates and then-roommates Butch Hancock and Gilmore, the group recorded its only album in 1972, a rootsy, brilliant work that was re-released by Rounder Records in 1990, prophetically titled “More a Legend Than a Band.” It was even hailed by some critics as being “far ahead of its time.”

“We didn’t even think about time since we didn’t own any wristwatches,” Ely said. “The only time we thought of was how to make $80 to pay our rent every month. But, seriously, Jimmie and Butch have influenced me as much as anybody in my career.”

Stomping out of west Texas in 1977 and playing everything from roots rock, country and rockabilly to Tex-Mex, Western swing and hard-driving honky-tonk rave-ups, the unclassifiable Joe Ely Band was born.

By 1981, the band grew into a seven-piece outfit that included electric and steel guitar, piano, accordion and saxophone. Despite critical praise and the admiration of such disparate sources as the Clash, Linda Ronstadt and Waylon Jennings, Ely caused barely a ripple on the commercial charts.

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But now Ely has a chance to broaden his fan base beyond a loyal but small following. Fresh and vital, “Letter to Laredo” finally and eloquently captures the essence of Joe Ely, the storyteller, the musician and free-spirited gypsy. Drawing from literary influences like Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie and particularly Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, Ely has added a little Texas dirt and wind to his melange of inspiration and created a daring work of deep emotion and intelligence.

“ ‘Laredo’ was real fun to do, and I learned in working with Teye that words and music really do interpret each other,” Ely said. “Thematically, I wanted the album to generate the feeling that it could be the same character in each song. The setting for each song is basically the same . . . the environment includes rivers, deserts, big skies and hot, bright suns. And my main character is basically an outcast or in trouble with the law. Now that I think about it, I probably made him a little like myself--or, shall I say, the way I grew up.”

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* Who: The Joe Ely Band.

* When: Monday at 8 p.m.

* Where: The Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano.

* Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (5) Freeway to the San Juan Creek Road exit, and turn left onto Camino Capistrano. The Coach House is in the Esplanade Plaza.

* Wherewithal: $13.50.

* Where to call: (714) 496-8930.