West Texas music icon Joe Ely has been acclaimed for his captivating live performances since his days with The Flatlanders in the 1970s, and his latest album is no exception to that fine tradition.

Released earlier this month, “Live Cactus!” blends the sense of urgency found in Ely’s acoustic guitar and vocals with the sweet-sounding accordion of Joel Guzman, a collaborator since 1996.

It’s a mix that’s magic on a live album recorded at Austin’s Cactus Café. It’s also Ely’s first recorded live work since “Live at Antone’s” came out in 2000.

At one time, Ely’s band toured with The Clash.

Here, it’s a less raucous affair but as a live album “Live Cactus!” still captures the energy that comes out right in a great, intimate setting.

Released on Ely’s Rack ‘Em Records, “Live Cactus!” has songs from throughout Ely’s career, such as his recent homage to outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, “Miss Bonnie and Mr. Clyde.” That song is from Ely’s “Happy Songs From Rattlesnake Gulch,” which came out last year.

On his live album, Ely teams up with great Texas newcomer Ryan Bingham on vocals for a rough-hewn but ever-charming version of “White Freightliner Blues,” the Townes Van Zandt song.

Behind Ely’s honky-tonkin,’ country-flavored and still rockin’ live versions is the wry humor with which he charms the audience. “It’s a very romantic place,” the Lubbock native says of West Texas while introducing a song, “if you’ve just gotten out of the pen.”

But from there, Ely and Guzman turn to play a beautiful rendition of “Because of the Wind,” a song from his second album in 1978 that’s full of the natural, unaffected lyricism he’s crafted in some of his best songs.

“Do you know why the trees bend at the West Texas border? Do you know why they bend, sway and twine?” Ely sings. “The trees bend because of the wind across that lonesome border.”

In this love song in particular, Guzman’s accordion work flows like rivulets of water over Ely’s sharper acoustic guitar chords.

As ever, Ely is a unique individual—here in harmony with a worthy, accomplished and sensitive musician in Guzman.

This combo’s music is good for a lot of things—the ears, a dance hall, an open pit fire and even the open road radio.