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Ellis Paul

Hello friends!

I spent the most incredible summer of my life crisscrossing America on ships, in cars and on tour buses….from California to Alaska to Florida to Maine and many beautiful places in between. I visited Alice’s Champagne Palace in Homer, Alaska with 150 vacationers after a week together on a cruise ship, spent a week on a remote island in Maine with a smaller group of vacationing adventurers, sang at a summer escape in Chautauqua, NY, started recording the new album in Woodstock, NY and just got off the road after a weekend of writing and touring with Sugarland!

This weekend the sold-out New England Songwriters Retreat establishes a home where I can gather my friends and writers and inspire other people to write better and more beautiful songs. I am so lucky!Last week I began the long haul of recording of The Storyteller’s Suitcase.

I went to my friend Seth Glier’s house near Northampton, MA and we laid some piano and key tracks down, then onto Mark Dann’s place in Woodstock for guitar, vocals and bass. The video link below is a visit to those spaces for you.

The Making of The Storyteller's Suitcase

I always enter a recording project with optimism that it is going to be my best one ever and that somehow it will create a beautiful amount of joy for people and a new level of appreciation for my songs out in the world. It’s been five years since my last album …and this is the first one that I have ever produced myself. If you buy into this project, hear these songs, or help with the fundraiser, you are going to be hearing my enhanced musical vision for the very first time! Not only did I write these songs, but I chose the instrumentation, the orchestration, and the choice of players. I am guiding their arrangements and often singing their parts.

This is exciting and scary— but I’ve watched some pretty brilliant people guide 19 of my projects and I really think it’s time to take the chair!

Do you know what I mean?

It’s f$&@&$ exhilarating 🙂 Really!

And this collection of songs is the most personal, the most guitar driven, and the best writing I’ve ever done. I’ve become more of the guitar player I dreamed of being when I picked up the guitar in a dorm at Boston College 30 years ago. That skinny kid would be proud.

This year I have been plotting the launch of the second-half of my career… and I couldn’t be better prepared or more excited. Check the little journey in the below. I will sharing more clips and songs and other tidbits in the upcoming weeks.

If you’d like to help make this project a great success, marketing and promotion is where your contribution will make the biggest impact. Many people have put out a great record and have had no one hear it. I’d like the world to hear these songs! To join the fundraiser please click below! And please share this post! Your contribution can lead to receiving a copy of the new CD, to having me play in your home, or having me compose a song for you or someone you love. Please see:

https://ellispaul.com/fundraiser/f/c/

OTHER NEWS! SCHOOL SHOWS, PRIVATE SHOWS, MENTORING!

SCHOOL SHOWS

If you are a teacher or connected to a school of any kind, I make frequent stops along my tours to spread the children’s music from my book The Hero in You. I sing educational biographies of people like Ben Franklin, Woody Guthrie and Rosa Parks. The book was named the #1 Winter Read for Teachers by Scholastic and is always a great asset to a school’s curriculum because it involves literacy, music, history and a performance all in one! Please send inquiries to tim@therootsagency.comto and copy me at ellispaul7@gmail.com.

PRIVATE SHOWS

I’m filling dates right now in between clubs and music halls— in home dates are available in October and December. If there is a special occasion like a birthday, anniversary or just a party! We are looking for dates in Missouri, Arkansas or Illinois and the Northeast!Please send inquiries to tim@therootsagency.com and copy me at ellispaul7@gmail.com!

MENTORING

I will be mentoring via Skype for artists and songwriters who’d like to improve their songs and music lives. I spend over an hour with you listening, encouraging and directing your art. This is especially useful if you are prepping to go into an album recording session and want to get your songs sharp! Check my website store for details!

WEBSITE STORE

The new forthcoming CD means that I need to make room for new merch! Be on the lookout for another website sale in September…..we’re going to try to clean out some Chasing Beauty t-shirts at a reduced price. Stay tuned!

Thanks all!

See you out on the road!

Ellis