Tinsley Ellis is world renown for his original blues songs featuring a large electric guitar sound. On his new album “Labor of Love” he turns off the amp to play a powerful set of acoustic blues he wrote for the purpose of paying tribute to the delta blues artists who have inspired him.
The new album is a follow-up to his last release which was a collection of acoustic covers. Now that he has warmed up to the idea of going unplugged he has unleashed his own songwriting for some modern blues stories about floods, fire, voodoo, heartbreak and even soul food.
Using only six and twelve string acoustic guitars, national steel guitars, a mandolin and a menacing sounding stomp box, his fingerpicking delicacy and world weary vocals drill down to the essence of the music he’s been playing for over forty years.
The feral stompers on “Labor of Love” pay tribute to wide array of bluesmen and their styles, from the rawness of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt, to the propulsive groove of R.L. Burnside and John Lee Hooker, to the ghostly eeriness of Skip James. Ellis shows off the timeliness of the blues and adds another layer to his craft.