Joe Ely's ready to jam, party at Blue Door

Joe Ely was just leaving Austin's city limits behind when he took a call from The Oklahoman last week.

"We went and met Butch and Jimmie for lunch and we're headin' back to the casa,” he drawled cheerfully.

It was the morning after "JesseFest,” an annual jam-session gathering of Texas singer-songwriter royalty that celebrates the memory of Jesse "Guitar” Taylor, who died in 2006 at the age of 55 from the ravages of hepatitis C.

"Butch and Jimmie and Terry Allen, everybody got together down at Antone's,” Ely said. "It's really just an excuse for us all to get together and have a big party. We all get together and just kind of celebrate his music and stuff. Needless to say, there were a lot of guitar players down there. We rattled the rafters.”

The "Butch and Jimmie” he kept referring to are Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, his lifelong friends from Lubbock and partners in the Flatlanders, a band that's become legend in the world of roadhouse country-rock. When the three first got together back in 1972, their debut album was barely released on 8-track tape because Nashville couldn't handle their outlaw-brand of folk, country and West Texas rockabilly. So the trio took a 30-year break, became legends on their own, then reunited to the effusive delight of their fans for the critically heralded 2002 album, "Now Again,” following it up with another gem in 2004, "Wheels of Fortune.”

Now there's talk of a third record for the Flatlander cult to shout about — if Ely can find the time.

In the past year alone, the Texas troubadour has established his own label, Rack 'Em Records, and released three albums: the electric, rocking "Happy Songs From Rattlesnake Gulch”; an album recorded with accordion maestro Joel Guzman at Austin's landmark Cactus Cafe called — what else — "LIVE Cactus”; and an acoustic album of songs Ely wrote early in his career, titled "Silver City.”

On top of all that, he's published his first book, "Bonfire of Roadmaps,” a compilation of sketches, prose and poetry from the journals he's kept on the road, dating all the way back to his restless Lubbock youth, when he ran off to join the circus.

And then there's the constant touring, which will bring him to one of his favorite venues, the rustic Blue Door, for two shows at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Sunday.

"Oh, that's a great place,” Ely said. "It's a great place for singing songs and telling stories, which is what I'm gonna be doing. Just me and the guitar, a song and a story, and I'll leave it up to everybody to fill in the blanks. I had a great time the last time I played there.”

Meanwhile, that new Flatlanders album may take some time to gel.

"Yeah, we just every once in a while kind of gravitate back together, and we figure it's about time,” Ely said. "Been writin' songs over the last three years. We're pretty slow, actually. We have to be kinda nudged by the record company. ... We've got probably five or six songs written now, maybe seven. Most people write a song in a day. I think we average about six months per song. We have no ambition between the three of us.”

He was just kiddin', of course.