“On Satisfied at Last, Ely doesn’t sound much older than he did when he cut his debut. The voice may be a bit rougher, but he can still hit those keening high notes, and his band still rocks out like a gang of hungry teenagers. The tunes here all deal with mortality, and Ely faces the subject head-on, sprinkling his tales with sharp observations on life’s pleasures and limitations with his usual touches of ironic humor.

“The opener, “The Highway is My Home”, rides a subtle beat that has hints of funk and reggae, suggested by Ely’s offbeat electric guitar accents. Loss and limitation inform tunes like “Not That Much Has Changed”, the tale of a soldier returning form a war. Ely’s take on a subject that could have incited a series of clichés is written in a timeless style that invokes Iraq, Vietnam, or any war. Mexican flavored acoustic guitar and crying pedal steel intensify the lyric’s emotional content. The title track sums up a man’s life and concludes that true love is the only thing worth living and dying for. Ely sings it with all the passion that makes his music so compelling.

“The album ends with three powerful tracks. The Texas reggae of “Roll Again” uses gambling as a metaphor for life’s uncertainties as Ely sings “Nobody’s satisfied, with the road that they chose to ride / Oh, let it go, roll again.” The laidback shuffle “I’m a Man Now” tips its hat to the Bo Diddley classic “I’m a Man”, but Diddley’s confidence is replaced by Ely’s self-reflective investigation of what it means to be male. “I’m not a kid,” he sings. “I done some things I never should have did.” David Holt complements Ely’s confessions with some icy Chicago style electric guitar fills. “Circumstance”, written by Butch Hancock, is one of the best tunes Ely’s ever cut, a mystical cowboy song with a Zen-like lyric that celebrates mortality and the confusing chaos of life with a wink and a smile. Ely delivers a reverent vocal against fat, twangy guitar notes that reverberate like stars going supernova in an endless summer sky. It’s a stunning tune that brings the set on Satisfied at Last to a satisfying conclusion.”

– J. Poet / Crawdaddy

“Under any circumstance, Joe Ely is a great, gripping live performer. But this time, there are two more good reasons to make your way through the back roads of Bucks County. One is that Satisfied at Last, the Lubbock, Texas-born Flatlander's new album, is his best in years, a rock solid collection of originals that take stock after 40 plus years on the road without settling for sentimentality or giving up on romance. Plus, it's juiced with a Tex-Mex take on Billy Joe Shaver's "Live Forever," and two superb new songs written by Ely's fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock.”

— Dan Deluca / Philadelphia Inquirer

“Ely still sings with agility and swagger, though retrospection and mortality tie together the songs here. There's a rueful mood to "Not That Much Has Changed", about a soldier's return home, but mostly Ely's tone is philosophical. "The Highway is My Home" is defiant roadhouse rock, while the bluesy "I'm a Man Now" and scratchy reggae of "Roll Again" both shrug off the past. Best of all is "Circumstance", by Ely's former Flatlanders bandmate Butch Hancock, a cowboy's tribute to the endless trail.”

– The Guardian

“’Satisfied at Last’ is a mature testament to aging gracefully as a high-spirited yet often inwardly directed Texas troubadour. One need hardly mention anymore the significant influence he had on the young, impressionable Clash.”

—Village Voice

“The second song on Joe Ely's 2011 album Satisfied at Last is titled "Not That Much Has Changed," and it's hard not to think that sums up the album pretty well. That isn't an insult: Ely has been making records since 1972, he knows his craft well, and he's still one of the most consistently rewarding artists to come out of the Texas singer/songwriter community. His voice is in great shape on Satisfied at Last, he brings a genuine passion and soul to his performances in the studio, and his tales of outlaws and ramblers trying to make their way under the big sky of the Southwest are still resonant, intelligent, and down to earth.Joe Ely is still one of the best things the Lone Star State has to offer, and Satisfied at Last shows he's not about to stop making albums worth hearing, and still finding things to say within the style he's made his own.”

– Mark Deming / AllMusic

L Y R I C S

SATISFIED AT LAST

1. THE HIGHWAY IS MY HOME 

BY JOE ELY

I packed up my suitcase, got my guitar

I walked to the highway out under the stars

Out from the West come a howlin’ wind

It blew through my clothes and right under my skin

If time was a river, my breath was a well

I looked to the sky and the lightning fell

My life was a highway, my pride was a mountain

I looked to the sky and the rain was pounding 

I believed her, I believed her I believed that it was true

That she loved me now, she’d given up on you

I believed her, I believed her, I bet everything I owned

Now hear I am a rambler, the highway is my home

My heart was a windmill, my soul was a flood

I could feel her in my veins, I could feel her in my blood

I dared the clouds to open their doors

I looked to the sky and the hard rain did pour

My mind was a whirlpool, my body, a sail

I could feel her inside me when the rain turned to hail

There was nowhere to hide, there was no where to run

There was nothing but the shell of a love undone

I believed her, I believed her I believed that it was true

That she loved me now, she’d given up on you

I believed her, I believed her, I bet everything I owned

Now hear I am a rambler, the highway is my home

How could I believe, I deserved here love

A fool such as I against the sky above

I was tired from runnin’, worn out from pain

I sat on a bus bench lookin’ out on the rain

They say the biggest fool is a fool with a heart

In someone else’s eyes is only playin, a part

The world is full of dreamers who must dream alone

Who gave it all away and now they have no home

I believed her, I believed her I believed that it was true

That she loved me now, she’d given up on you

I believed her, I believed her, I bet everything I owned

Now here I am a rambler, the highway is my home.

2. NOT THAT MUCH HAS CHANGED

BY JOE ELY

Grew up in this town and I'm coming back home

My suitcase is ragged and frayed

Some lives are boarded over, but the horses still eat clover

Not that much has changed

The skies seem a little bluer, and the tracks look a little newer

And the water tower has more names

The ruts are a little deeper, the gullies a little steeper

Not that much has changed

Not that much has changed, it's all just rearranged

Like a picture in your mind of a heart you left behind

Not that much has changed

The grass is a little drier, the trees are a little higher

But the dust still blows on the range

The schoolyard seems smaller, the church steeple seems taller

Not that much has changed

Old friends have gotten older, some seem a little colder

The friends they once had ain't the same

But the drugstore's still for sale, as is cotton by the bale

Not that much has changed

Not that much has changed, it's all just rearranged

Like a picture in your mind of a love you left behind

Not that much has changed

When I left she said she'd be, waitin' here for me

She said I've got no need to explain

But our old car is gone, just the weeds in her lawn

Not that much has changed

I think about the war and the price we had to pay

And the lives that'll never be the same

And why for all these years, no answers have appeared

Why not that much has changed

Not that much has changed, it's all just rearranged

Like a picture in your mind of a world you left behind

Not that much has changed

Like a picture in your mind of a war you left behind

Not that much has changed

3.SATISFIED AT LAST

BY JOE ELY

I didn’t take on this world

for fortune or fame

Set my direction

With a flicker or flame

I traveled the country 

Oklahoma too.

Give every mile 

Just to be here with you 

O mama, forget about the past

It’s been along time comin’

Satisfied at last

Oh satisfied at last

When I cross that river

To the other side

I ain’t takin’ nothin’ with me

I’m leavin it all behind 

I didn’t take on the lions

Cause I had anything to proove

I ain’t afraid of dying

I got nothing to lose

Just to have the wind in my face

My bandana blowin’ free

Trade all my yesterdays

just to have you here with me 

O Mama, forget about the past

It’s been a long time coming

I’m satisfied at last 

Oh Satisfied at last

When I cross that river 

To the other side 

I aint takin nothing with me 

I’m leavin it all behind 

I didn’t come here with nothing 

Just a slap on the ass

You can bet I’m leavin 

I’ll be satisfied at last

Satisfied at last

4. MOCKINGBIRD HILL

BY JOE ELY

Casandra Corinna lived on mockingbird Hill

By the Tai-state arena next door to the rodeo grill

where she worked at night in the neon light 

at the Tai-state saloon

and the cattle trucks would come and go

by the light of the Mockingbird moon

A dark and weary driver came in for a beer last night

there was blood on his knuckles , looked like maybe there might have been a fight

Cassandra, she told him ,looks like you need a drink

from under his hat he squinted and gave her a little wink

i could use a double whiskey

but it would not save my soul

i could use a hundred dollars 

but it would not make me whole

i could use some understandin’

no need for no excuse

all that’s just second handed

only love can cut me loose

Cassandra swept the floors and then turned out the light 

she locked the well worn door like she’d done so many nights

a cattle truck was idling , next door to the rodeo grill

as the full moon come rising’ over Mockingbird Hill

She could tell that he was waiting’ by the sound of his rumbling’ pipes

his truck was parked sideways cross a string of yellow stripes

his window rolled down slowly,Cassandra stopped for a blink

He asked if she was lonesome, she didn’t even stop to think

i could use a double whiskey but it would not save my soul

i could use a hundred dollars but it would not make me whole

I could use some understanding’ no need for no excuse

All that’s just second handed 

Only love can cut me loose

the truck pulled back into the night

she watched it slowly fade 

as it curved around the barbed wire fence

Her great grandaddy had made

With the risen’f the moon

come memories of a certain man

Who once was here but now is gone

Far beyond that fenced-in land

Cassandra Corinna lived on Mocking bird hill

By the Sri-state arena next door to the rodeo Grill

where she worked at night in the neon light of the Trip state saloon

And the cattle trucks would come by the light of the Mockingbird moon

5. YOU CAN BET IM GONE

BY JOE ELY

This ole world is a funny ole place

We're always running from place to place

You work and slave to try to ease your mind

The very things you strive for, you gotta leave behind

What I know so far, near as I can tell

Heaven's here on earth and the soul is it

Just the air we're given and the stars above

You can measure your riches by the ones you love

When I say goodbye, you can bet I'm gone

When a lonesome freight-train whistle blows its weary song

When I see the light of a brand new dawn

When I say goodbye, you can bet I'm gone

When I die, don't toll no bells

Just put my ashes in some shotgun shells

Get all of my friends some windy day

To say goodbye and watch me blow away

When the wind dies down and the day gets late

I'll be all scattered all over the state

And you know which state I'm talking about

The place I love and can't live without

When I say goodbye, you can bet I'm gone

When a lonesome freight-train whistle blows its weary song

When I see the light of a brand new dawn

When I say goodbye, you can bet I'm gone

When I say goodbye, you can bet I'm gone