The Southern-bred blues-rock guitarist plays February shows in Lake Orion, Muskegon and Marshall, touring behind his latest albums, “Labor of Love” and “Naked Truth.” The Local Spins interview.
‘It’s All About Touring for Me’: Tinsley Ellis has three upcoming Michigan dates. (Photo/Bradley Cook)
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Tinsley Ellis is returning to his roots.
A scintillating live performer on electric guitar with a band, he’s stripped down his sound for his last two recordings and his live gigs. “I’ve been playing acoustic guitar since 1964,” says the 68-year-old blues troubadour.
Even so, it wasn’t until 2024, when he released “Naked Truth,” that Ellis focused exclusively on acoustic guitar and his vocals, hence the album title. “Naked Truth” earned acclaim, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart and a nomination for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year at the Blues Music Awards
Now he’s just released “Labor Of Love,” another all-acoustic set, this time comprised exclusively of his originals.
On the set of 13 concise songs, most clocking in around three minutes and the longest just over four, Ellis spins modern tales of floods, voodoo spirits, personal travails and heaven-sent prayers. They may recall inspirations, from the John Lee Hooker groove of the opening “Hoodoo Woman” to Son House on the stomp of “Sunnyland,” but they’re all Ellis, all the time.
He’s quick to cite Hooker and House among his many inspirations, alongside other originators and members of the British invasion. “B.B. King, Peter Green, Eric Clapton. Early Muddy Waters, Son House, Skip James,” he quickly recounts. “Bert Jansch, though he was mostly instrumental.”
When Local Spins caught up with him at home in Georgia recently, he had played the first two dates on the tour supporting “Labor of Love.” That tour continues when Ellis performs Feb. 19 at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion ($45.41 tickets available here), Feb. 20 at the Muskegon Museum of Art ($35 in advance here), and Feb. 21 at the Franke Center for the Arts in Marshall ($41.50-$186.50 online here).
“It’s all about touring for me. I put my guitar in the car and go all over the country,” he says.
Ellis’ acoustic mini-sets during live shows have long been popular with fans, and with Ellis himself. “I used to do an acoustic part in the middle (of shows). I found myself really getting excited about that part of the show.
Blues Appeal is Universal: Ellis (Photo/Bradley Cook)
“‘Naked Truth’ came out two years ago. After it came out, I did hundreds of acoustic shows. I thought maybe ‘Naked Truth’ was one and done. It wasn’t,” he says.
Inspired like so many others inspired by seeing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” young Tinsley Ellis was further stimulated by British Invasion bands that built on the blues, such as The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream and The Rolling Stones, as well as Southern rockers like The Allman Brothers. In 1972, he caught a show by B.B. King, and three years later joined a hard-driving local blues band, the Alley Cats. In 1981, Tinsley co-founded The Heartfixers, which became Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band and cut four albums.
His first solo album, 1988’s “Georgia Blue,” showcased his playing, and he’s since recorded for several labels, including three stints on Alligator, as well as releasing albums on his own Heartfixers label. Publications as varied as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe have run features and reviews on Ellis, while Rolling Stone declared, “He achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”
Never one to rest on his laurels, Ellis has continued to write, record and perform. “Labor of Love” is his 22nd album, and he says he’s developed fans across the country as a result of his seemingly endless touring. “It always feels like homecoming no matter where I am,” he says.
That includes places he’s never previously performed, such as the Muskegon Museum of Art. He says that is due in large part to the feel of blues music. “A blues show is unique in feeling like a group of strangers who get together and reminisce,” he says.
Ellis believes the appeal of the blues is its universality. It can be upbeat or mournful, but always showcases the performer’s humanity “Delta blues can be pretty melancholy. Delta blues musicians often had a pretty rough life,” he says. “Music takes us away from the hardship.”
VIDEO: Tinsley Ellis at The Kennedy Center
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