Tinsley Ellis is widely known for his exciting and fluid electric blues guitar playing, but his latest release Naked Truth features him without his band, playing acoustic guitar.
With a career that began in the '80s, Ellis has released 21 albums, many of them, including his latest, on the world-renowned blues label Alligator Records. Notably, blues greats John Mayall and Johnny Lang each recorded versions of Ellis' song “A Quitter Never Wins.”
KNKX recently caught up with Ellis from his home in the Atlanta area. During the conversation, Ellis displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of blues and music history, detailing his journey as a bluesman and his new record.
Like many young musicians in the ‘60s, Ellis found his way to the blues through British musiciand like The Rolling Stones and Mayall, known as the "father of British blues," who were some of the first to bring blues into the mainstream.
“I was born in 1957, so a lot of people my age were tuned into the Ed Sullivan Show for The Beatles in February 1964. I had heard twangy music before, like Ventures and stuff like that, but The Beatles wrapped it up in a nice package for me, and I begged my parents for a guitar,” Ellis said.
After his parents obliged and rented him an acoustic guitar, Ellis’ passion for The Beatles eventually led to other great acts like The Animals and The Yardbirds. Listening to their music, he started to tune into aspects like harmonica and slide guitar. From there, he found bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the Georgia heroes, The Allman Brothers. Then, while in junior high school near Fort Lauderdale, Ellis had the chance to go see and meet with B.B. King. The experience would jumpstart his blues career.
“It was a weekend teen-matinee, I sat right there in the front row and all of a sudden I could see where Duane Allman was coming from and where Peter Green was coming from, and of course, Eric Clapton,” Ellis said. “And he greeted us in the lobby and talked to us for what seemed like hours. He was the nicest man.”
A few years later, Ellis went to Emory University in Atlanta. There, Ellis studied history, and his interest in the blues seeped into his studies.
“I would write term papers like ‘The Blues Resurgence of the 1960s,” he said.
When he wasn’t in school, he was performing and making money. One summer, music was all he did.
“And then pretty much after college, I joined the circus and never really looked back,” Ellis said, with a laugh.
When he first signed to Chicago-based label, Alligator Records, in the ‘80s, he spent a lot of time in Chicago and got to know and play with Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, and Lonnie Brooks.
"I’d hang around and I’d be respectful, and then guys like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy and Albert Collins would get me onstage to jam. And that’s probably been a tradition since Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop and Paul Butterfield were hanging out in the clubs and being respectful, and eventually they’d get to be some minuscule part of the community known as Chicago blues,” Ellis said.
These days, as he plays more acoustic guitar, Ellis has dug into the work of acoustic blues players like Son House and Skip James. Along with nine originals, the new record features songs written by House, as well as blues legend Willie Dixon.
“It became a quest for me to find out who these people were. Part of my show is talking about how I wrote the songs and some of my influences. Playing arts centers, as I am now, with the seated audience, I can talk more and tell some of my stories. The music is intrinsically American, so we can tie into different parts of the country,” Ellis said.
Playing as a solo acoustic artist has been a big change for Ellis. He used to “hide” behind the big beat of the bass and drums, he said, and he is still getting used to how exposed it can feel to play on his own. He's also inspired by this new direction.
“It’s a whole new world, and I had kind of run out of ideas doing the band thing. I didn’t want to make the same album all over again,” Ellis said.
Ellis’ Naked Truth tour soon comes to Washington state for three shows. He’ll be at Brewminatti in Prosser on Nov. 14, McIntyre Hall in Mt. Vernon on Nov. 15, and Vashon Center of the Arts on Vashon Island on Nov. 17.
