At first blush, one might think: Huh? A fourth live Ely album and his third at a legendary Austin venue? Yet Live Cactus! may be as essential to the Ely canon as his fierce and all but mind-blowing London club show captured on 1980’s Live Shots. In contrast, this one is as intimate as having Ely and Tex-Mex accordion master Joel Guzman in your living room while also still being as potent as his most electric recordings and shows, thanks to Ely’s resonant voice and propulsive acoustic-guitar playing and Guzman’s evocatively picturesque squeeze box filigrees. It cherrypicks gems from way back when (a cinematic rendition of “Because of the Wind”) to just a while ago (“Miss Bonnie and Mr. Clyde,” the virtual flip side to “Me and Billy the Kid”), and brings sentiments to the forefront of “Where Is My Love?” and “I’m a Thousand Miles From Home” that may have been a tad obscured by the crackling electricity of earlier versions. By the time Joe & Joel wrap up this set with Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues” (with Ryan Bingham’s guest vocals), Live Cactus! proves Ely’s as powerful and compelling, maybe even more so, as he’s ever been in his long career.
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