Tinsley Ellis plays Saturday night at the Ute Theater in Rifle at 7:30 p.m. Ellis will perform an acoustic show that has been described by AllMusic as “Glorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues, killer vocals and biting, dazzling guitar work.”
Atlanta-based musician Tinsley Ellis’ path playing the blues has not been a linear one. He has played with legends and fronted his own bands. There have been chapters that have transcended time and space, detours through other galaxies and universes.
His 40-year cosmic journey will land him in Rifle on Saturday at the Ute Theater and Events Center for a 7:30 p.m. show.
The show will be a live solo acoustic performance. He recently released his acoustic album “Labor of Love” on famed Alligator Records, his second acoustic album (after 2024’s Blues Music Award-nominated “Naked Truth”) and first acoustic album to contain all original material.
Ellis was 6 in 1964 when he saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Like so many others of his generation, he was transformed. Once he got a few years older, he begged his parents for a guitar. They rented him one, on the condition that he take lessons.
After three sessions, he released himself “on his own recognizance.” He first got interested in rock ’n’ roll through the British Invasion — The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and Cream. Then a friend’s older brother set him straight.
“If you want to know where the blues comes from, go see B.B. King,” Ellis recalled in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. He became an instant devotee and soon discovered other American blues masters like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.
By the 1980s, Ellis had moved to Chicago and signed with Alligator Records. He opened shows, sat in during sets, toured Europe, and recorded under his own name while also backing heroes like Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Albert Collins and Koko Taylor.
“I was pretty blessed to be around at the right time,” he said.
Ellis’ view of music changed when he encountered Col. Bruce Hampton, a staple in the Atlanta music scene who was a mentor and Svengali for the jamband scene and many local musicians.
Hampton was known for his philosophy of playing “out.” In Hampton’s world, the only thing that mattered was proper intention. If the notes were played honestly and with the right intention, there were no bad notes, which resulted in some pretty far-out sounds.
Ellis began playing with Hampton in Atlanta in 1983 in a band called the Stained Souls. Rehearsals were optional; guitar tuners were not. Hampton broke every rule Ellis had ever been taught about how a band should operate. Yet what came out of that chaos was, in Ellis’ words, “always entertaining” and “always genius.”
Together, he and Hampton wrote the song “Basically Frightened,” built from a pile of phrases Hampton scattered on the floor: melting foods, windmill operators, spies who don’t use Campho-Phenique. It became a signature song, later recorded by Phish.
Hampton’s orbit extended far, particularly through the Atlanta and Athens scenes. He connected with future members of Widespread Panic early in their careers. Ellis recalled playing the Uptown Lounge in Athens, where Panic’s bass player, Dave Schools, worked the door. Some nights, the Stained Souls were so far out musically that they drove everyone out of the club and ended up owing it money.
“Bruce was from another universe, really,” Ellis said. “I’d say another planet, but I think that would be selling him short. He was from another universe.”
Ellis was present when Hampton died onstage at a sold-out show at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, celebrating his 70th birthday in 2017. It was a concert Ellis called one of the greatest he ever played, until it became the worst.
“Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, members of Phish. R.E.M. Panic and other great players were all just rocking out and Bruce died on the damn stage and we were crushed,” he recalled.
Just as Hampton mentored him, Ellis played a pivotal role in mentoring Oliver Wood, from the Wood Brothers.
Tinsley Ellis will bring his raw acoustic blues to the Ute Theater in Rifle on Saturday. Billboard Magazine said of Ellis, “Nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta’s Tinsley Ellis. He sings like a man possessed and wields a mean lead guitar.” The show is at 7:30 p.m.
When a young Oliver Wood arrived in Atlanta from Boulder, Ellis spotted him playing at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. Wood could play B.B. King licks and jazz at the same time. Ellis hired him to play in his band.
Wood played on Ellis’ “Storm Warning” album alongside keyboardist Chuck Leavell and a 13-year-old slide prodigy making his recording debut named Derek Trucks.
Ellis pushed Wood to sing at least one song per show. The shy guitarist obliged and soon Wood emerged with a distinct voice that became the hallmark of the Wood Brothers’ sound.
In the last several years, Ellis has traded electric gunslinging for what he calls a troubadour’s life. Since the pandemic, he has focused on acoustic recordings and solo performances, driving across the country, guitars in the back of the car.
Armed with a National steel guitar, an old Martin acoustic and a mandolin, Ellis delivers what he calls “rocking acoustic” — raw, foot-stomping blues in the spirit of R.L. Burnside.
Blues Music Magazine called Ellis’ acoustic performances, “Stripped down and raw, gruff, unembellished vocals with glistening melodies fingerpicked with delicacy. The music is so genuine it seems like a long-lost recording.”
Ellis’ acoustic shows are intimate and heavy on storytelling. He talks about Hampton, about Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and a life spent chasing the muse of the blues.
Ellis said what he hopes audiences take away is simple.
“I want to take people away from the worries of their world,” Ellis said. “I’d like to take them to another place and deliver them back safely to Earth unharmed.”
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