Review: Joe Ely serves up songs of honesty, hope and healing

Joe Ely, "Love In the Midst of Mayhem'ť (Rack 'Em Records)

Joe Ely's leftovers are keepers, as 'œLove In the Midst of Mayhem'ť shows.

Idled by the coronavirus - the 'œpandamnit,'ť as Ely calls it - the West Texas troubadour began digging through his backlog of songs that had not yet found a home. The material served as the foundation for 'œLove In the Midst of Mayhem," 10 open-hearted tunes about honesty, hope and healing. 'œA song is a poet's pain,'ť Ely sings on the opening cut, 'œSoon All Your Sorrows Be Gone.'ť

Indoor tempos match the way the pace of life has slowed, but the ballad-heavy, mostly acoustic set still offers variety. Tex-Mex guitar lightens the despair of 'œDon't Worry About It,'ť and a carnivalesque coda punctuates 'œGlare of Glory,'ť while accordion virtuoso Joel Guzman colors in the corners throughout.

It also helps that the 73-year-old Ely is in great voice. His dusty tenor floats over the devotional waltz 'œYou Can Rely on Me,'ť but hits the consonants with New York intensity on the marvelous 'œGarden of Manhattan."

Ely's vocal is somber on a song of heartache titled 'œCry,'ť and he lets one out on the final verse, summing up the sound of 2020.