The Phoenix presents: William Lee Ellis in concert.
Record Release show, 7pm, all ages, $10 tickets in advance or at door
Acclaimed Americana/Blues guitarist William Lee Ellis was raised in the deep roots of American music. Named after his godfather, legendary bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, Ellis grew up in a musical family – his father, respected banjo composer Tony Ellis, was one of Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. Along the way – including years living in Japan then Memphis – Ellis learned to combine Davis’ fingerpicking technique with his classical performance background and the bluegrass-infused memories of his youth. Yet it’s clear that he’s no revivalist – Ellis writes his own unique music, using old blues forms and apocalyptic gospel themes as a vocabulary to express contemporary experiences.
In his quest to capture the timeless appeal of pre-war traditions, and to make the music’s message live for today, Ellis has created a brand of Americana/roots music that’s all his own. Ellis’ recordings have been hailed by the international press from Billboard to the London Times: his six albums include four for noted roots label Yellow Dog Records: 2000’s The Full Catastrophe; 2003’s Conqueroo, picked as one of the year’s best records by Acoustic Guitar magazine; 2006’s God’s Tattoos, which won a Best International CD honor at Australia’s BlueStar Awards; and Ghost Hymns, which arrives on June 23d.
The decade-long gap in Ellis’s recording activity is simple: he stepped into academia, earning a PhD in ethnomusicology and moving to Vermont, where he is currently Chair of Fine Arts and Associate Professor of Music at Saint Michael’s College. In Vermont, Ellis has not only taught on blues, jazz, and gospel music but has published on blues and folk art in equal measure, culminating in the spring 2023 show he curated at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Build a Heaven of My Own: African American Vernacular Art and the Blues. He has also curated an ongoing series at Burlington’s Flynn theater, New Voices, that celebrate the diasporic music making of regional acts and communities, many with an immigrant or refugee backgrounds.
These experiences and more have given shape to Ellis’s latest album, Ghost Hymns, a collection of original compositions and arrangements, one framed by a global roots vision. Featuring musical friends of international scope and experience, its 12 selections channel such voices as Lead Belly and Rev. Gary Davis alongside Chinese busking, Ghanian high life, and the Sacred Harp.
Ellis is an avid world traveler – musical tours include Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scotland, and China – and as a teacher he has instructed guitar at Augusta Blues Week, Common Ground on the Hill, and Jorma Kaukonen’s prestigious Fur Peace Ranch. With his banjo-composer father, he’s also played globally for the U.S. State Department from Cuba to Belarus, as well as the Kennedy Center, MerleFest, and The Late Show with David Letterman in a performance with actor Steve Martin.
The remainder of 2023 will find Ellis traversing the US in support of Ghost Hymns.
Booking and Management: Jocelyn Mailloux 413.313.4905 jmailloux56@gmail.com