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<\/p>\n 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 \u201cGlorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues, killer vocals and biting, dazzling guitar work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Atlanta-based musician Tinsley Ellis\u2019 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The show will be a live solo acoustic performance. He recently released his acoustic album \u201cLabor of Love\u201d on famed Alligator Records, his second acoustic album (after 2024\u2019s Blues Music Award-nominated \u201cNaked Truth\u201d) and first acoustic album to contain all original material.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n After three sessions, he released himself \u201con his own recognizance.\u201d He first got interested in rock \u2019n\u2019 roll through the British Invasion \u2014 The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and Cream. Then a friend\u2019s older brother set him straight.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to know where the blues comes from, go see B.B. King,\u201d Ellis recalled in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. He became an instant devotee and soon discovered other American blues masters like Howlin\u2019 Wolf and Muddy Waters.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was pretty blessed to be around at the right time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ellis\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hampton was known for his philosophy of playing \u201cout.\u201d In Hampton\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 words, \u201calways entertaining\u201d and \u201calways genius.\u201d<\/p>\n Together, he and Hampton wrote the song \u201cBasically Frightened,\u201d built from a pile of phrases Hampton scattered on the floor: melting foods, windmill operators, spies who don\u2019t use Campho-Phenique. It became a signature song, later recorded by Phish.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hampton\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBruce was from another universe, really,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI\u2019d say another planet, but I think that would be selling him short. He was from another universe.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWarren 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,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n Just as Hampton mentored him, Ellis played a pivotal role in mentoring Oliver Wood, from the Wood Brothers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tinsley Ellis will bring his raw acoustic blues to the Ute Theater in Rifle on Saturday. Billboard Magazine said of Ellis, \u201cNobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta\u2019s Tinsley Ellis. He sings like a man possessed and wields a mean lead guitar.\u201d The show is at 7:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n Photo by Bradley Cook<\/span>
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