TINSLEY ELLIS plays The Coach House Mar. 8; photo James Christophe
Blues rock legend Tinsley Ellis makes his return to SoCal playing alongside Jimmie Vaughan at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano Mar. 8.
Ellis and his bandmates look forward to the return, especially to The Coach House.
“We have played there several times, we like it very much,” says Ellis. “Concert goers will expect to hear us do songs off the Winning Hand CD as well as some of the older CDs that I’ve put out over the last 35 years.”
Since entering the music industry back in 1975, Ellis has remained a steadfast and active performer in the blues rock circuit whose innovative musical stylings have made him a favorite among concertgoers and music lovers in general.
Ellis owes his continuing musical journey to the blues and rock bands he listened to growing up in Southern California. Ellis also cites bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers as his favorites growing up and are some of his main inspirations.
But Ellis says one particular performance stands out to him along with going to see B.B. King live. It’s a performance that pushed him to finally get an instrument and become an active musician.
“I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964,” Ellis relates. “I begged my parents for a guitar. I started playing in bands in high school and college. When I graduated from college, I just kept going with it and I’ve been doing it about 50 years now.”
TINSLEY ELLIS; photo James Christopher
Ellis has honed his musical style that has earned him a sterling reputation along with the title of “a bona fide worldwide guitar hero” from The Chicago Sun-Times. He also has numerous live appearances on record along with 17 albums to date with the latest being Winning Hand.
Ask him what kind of music he plays that’s helped him achieve such accomplishments and you’ll get a four-word summation.
“Guitar driven blues rock,” Ellis says. “There’s a lot of guitar playing going on and there’s a lot of blues music mixed with rock music.”
It’s an amalgamation that results in superbly composed notes of both Southern-style rock and blues. These compositions are often accompanied by moody, rugged vocals from Ellis that is an iconic trademark of blues musicians like him.
Ellis continues to actively make new music whenever possible. He has little trouble doing so as he remains consistently inspired.
“The songs kind of come to me at any particular time,” Ellis relates. “I may be driving down the road or sitting in my hotel room or I may actually be in the studio when I’m writing it.”
Ellis says he’s especially thankful to today’s technology which makes it even easier for him to create his music.
“Thanks to the cell phone with its recording feature I can just hit record and sing my ideas into my phones. The ideas are never lost so I can write songs wherever I am.”
The biggest reward for Ellis is being able to play his music. Not only do music goers get to enjoy it but so does Ellis. For him, the music he plays is a safe and wonderful means of escaping reality for a while.
“The music carries me away and I hope that it carries the listener away and delivers the listener back safely to the real world.”
Though Ellis has played many performances with just himself and his band mates he has shared the stage with other notable musicians. Ellis says he always looks forward to these performances.
“My favorite performances are the ones where we open for someone, I really like a lot musically and then they call me on the stage to jam with them at the end.”
The list Ellis gives is impressive to say the least.
“Albert Collins, Coco Taylor, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy. I’ve opened for all of them and performed with them during their set. There’s been rock bands as well like The Allman Brothers Band, Government Mule, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Widespread Panic.”
Ellis encourages people to come see him live and who knows? Jimmie Vaughan may even bring him on stage to jam.