Honky Tonk Masquerade

Honky Tonk Masquerade
Studio album by Joe Ely
Released	1978
Recorded	Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Genre	country
Length	33:57
Label	MCA
Producer	Chip Young
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] Robert Christgau (A) [2] Dirty Linen (favorable) [3] Music Hound [4] Piero Scaruffi (7/10) [5] Rolling Stone [6]
Joe Ely chronology
Joe Ely (1977) Honky Tonk Masquerade (1978) 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.^[7] 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". ^[8] 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".^[9]

LP track listing

All songs by Joe Ely except as indicated.

Side one

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

Side two

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

Credits

Credits as listed in liner notes.^[10]

Musicians

• Acoustic guitar – Joe Ely
• Steel – Lloyd Maines
• Drums – Steve Keeton
• Bass – Gregg Wright
• Accordion & piano – Ponty Bone
• Electric/acoustic guitar – Jesse Taylor ^[11]
• 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 - background 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

Cover of the combined release of Joe Ely/Honky Tonk Maquerade

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."^[3]

Notes and sources

1. ^ Mark Deming, "Review: Honky Tonk Masquerade", Allmusic (link)
2. ^ Robert Christgau, Consumer Guide, (link)
3. ^ ^{a b} "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
4. ^ Music Hound, USA, 1998-99 [according to acclaimedmusic.net
5. ^ Piero Scaruffi, www.scaruffi.com, Italy (link (mix of English and Italian))
6. ^ Nick Tosches, "Review: Honky Tonk Masquerade", Rolling Stone, 269, July 12, 1978 (link) [note: The album is rated 4.5/5 stars in the Rolling Stone Album Guide, USA, 1992]
7. ^ Robert Dimery (ed), 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Cassell Illustrated, 2005 (link to list)
8. ^ Steve Pond, "The Seventies Reconsidered: 50 Essential Albums of the Decade", Rolling Stone Seventies retrospective issue, 1990 (link)
9. ^ Fred Muller, "The Top Ten albums: The albums of the rock era", AudioEnz, New Zealand, January 2001 (link)
10. ^ Reporting of the liner notes for this article were from the MCA CD release, MCAD-10220
11. ^ "Jesse Taylor, guitarist: born Lubbock, Texas 1950; (three daughters); died Austin, Texas 7 March 2006.", [obituary], The Independent, March 11, 2006 (link)
12. ^ This is a remastered disk that combines Joe Ely and Honky Tonk Masquerade onto a single disk.