Joe Ely, the progressive country music pioneer and renowned Texas singer-songwriter, has died. He was 78.

Ely died on Monday, Dec. 15, at his home in Taos, New Mexico, due to complications of Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s and pneumonia, according to a statement released on the singer’s official Facebook page.

“He was a leader of the extraordinary parade of artists raised in Lubbock who later settled in the live music capital of Austin,” the statement read. “Ely signed with MCA Records in the 1970s and spent more than five decades recording and performing around the world.”

Ely got his musical start as a member of the short-lived country-rock outfit The Flatlanders, joining forces with fellow country singers Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. The band broke up shortly after the making of its debut album in 1972, which led Ely to pursue a solo career.

After signing with MCA, Ely released his self-titled debut album in 1977. The prolific musician went on to release over 20 albums over the course of his decadeslong career, including 2025’s “Love and Freedom.”

Ely was also something of a musical chameleon. In the late ’90s, the country singer was a member of the Latin alternative supergroup Los Super Seven, which featured the likes of Freddy Fender, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Ruben Ramos and others.

The band’s self-titled 1998 album won a Grammy Award for best Mexican-American music performance.

Joe Ely performs onstage for Country’s Roaring ’70s: Outlaws and Armadillos exhibition opening concert at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 25, 2018.

Ely was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame in 1989 as a solo artist and later in 2016 as a member of The Flatlanders, according to archives from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.

“Joe will be sorely missed,” Civic Lubbock, Inc., an arts and culture nonprofit in Ely’s hometown, said in a statement. “Our sincere condolences go out to his wife Sharon and his family, friends and fellow musicians.”

Ely is survived by his wife, Sharon, and his daughter, Marie.