We spent some quality time with an old friend last evening. Texas songster Joe Ely was in Portland, with an accompanist in tow for a sit-down acoustic set at Mississippi Studios. Ely wove his way through his extensive catalog of country, folk, and honky tonk songs, pausing in between to tell some funny stories and reflect on more than 40 years on the road singing for his supper.

The crowd was mostly silver-haired -- Ely is now at Social Security age -- and appreciative as Ely expertly played and sang such numbers as "Treat Me Like Saturday Night," "Silver City," "Hard Livin'," "You Can Bet I'm Gone," "Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown," and finally "Dallas." He told a few yarns about his days with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock in what was then the world's least renowned supergroup, the Flatlanders -- a group that's now got a Carnegie Hall date coming up. Ely was in complete command of the proceedings, and you could see in his eyes that he was enjoying the intimate setting as he went through his paces, as he's done so many thousands of times before.

He had with him a superb picker named Jeff Plankenhorn, whose steel guitar, mandolin, and guitar really brought the headliner's unique stew of country rock to life. Opening the show was a solo act named Joe Pug -- Ely referred to the bill as the "Los Dos Joes with Three-Letter Last Names Tour" -- who presented some of his original songs. Pug reminded us a little of tapes we've seen of early Bruce Springsteen, or of the John Hiatt solo acoustic shows we've attended. He's endearing.

Tonight it's on to Seattle for the three of them. As one of Ely's most famous songs proclaims, "the party never ends."