July-August 2005 Newsletter
• CD Reviews • Blues Festivals • Kim Wilson interview •

CD Reviews
• Duke Robillard/Ronnie Earl • Tinsley Ellis • Mem Shannon •

Tinsley Ellis
Live-Highwayman

Alligator Records
www.alligator.com
12 tracks/79:07

Steve Jones Reviews

Tinsley Ellis is back on Alligator Records and he’s as hot as ever on this new release recorded earlier this year live at Chord On Blues in St. Charles.  Fans of Tinsley and southern rock-blues will thoroughly enjoy this CD.  The driving guitar beat prevails as Tinsley does homage to his Georgia blues heritage.  From the opening song where Tinsley’s wails that “I’ll sell my soul to the devil for a dime,” to the closing jam of Double Eyed Whammy, the joint was really rocking to Tinsley’s superb brand of blues. 

The title track features Tinsely with a steaming, fuzzed out guitar sound and his gravelly vocals. Tinsely jams in a traditional southern blues manner from the seven plus minute slow numbers like ‘A Quitter Never Wins’ to the almost eleven minute closing jam.  Songs like ‘Pawnbroker’ show off Ellis’ stratospheric guitar playing while slower ones ones like ‘The Axe’ show how he can slow it down and growl out slow vocals with the best of them. 

There is not one bad song on this CD.  For almost 80 minutes we see Tinsley Ellis at his finest.  He left Alligator for one CD with failing Capricorn Records and then spent a few years releasing two CDs on Telarc.  His return to Alligator is truly great; it is one of his finest efforts.  The title of the album is quite appropriate as Ellis’ guitar moves from a slow moving wail to burning  rubber down the highway.  This is not an album for the faint of heart, but it is one that deserves a spot in any blues lovers’ collection. 

Tinsley Ellis is back on Alligator Records and he’s as hot as ever on this new release recorded earlier this year live at Chord On Blues in St. Charles.  Fans of Tinsley and southern rock-blues will thoroughly enjoy this CD.  The driving guitar beat prevails as Tinsley does homage to his Georgia blues heritage.  From the opening song where Tinsley’s wails that “I’ll sell my soul to the devil for a dime,” to the closing jam of Double Eyed Whammy, the joint was really rocking to Tinsley’s superb brand of blues. 

The title track features Tinsely with a steaming, fuzzed out guitar sound and his gravelly vocals. Tinsely jams in a traditional southern blues manner from the seven plus minute slow numbers like ‘A Quitter Never Wins’ to the almost eleven minute closing jam.  Songs like ‘Pawnbroker’ show off Ellis’ stratospheric guitar playing while slower ones ones like ‘The Axe’ show how he can slow it down and growl out slow vocals with the best of them. 

There is not one bad song on this CD.  For almost 80 minutes we see Tinsley Ellis at his finest.  He left Alligator for one CD with failing Capricorn Records and then spent a few years releasing two CDs on Telarc.  His return to Alligator is truly great; it is one of his finest efforts.  The title of the album is quite appropriate as Ellis’ guitar moves from a slow moving wail to burning  rubber down the highway.  This is not an album for the faint of heart, but it is one that deserves a spot in any blues lovers’ collection.