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Ellis Paul

A Fifty Cent Lighter and a Whiskey Buzz - Review

A Fifty Cent Lighter and a Whiskey Buzz

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

by Nelson

Ellis Paul is an artist who has been on my radar since his 2003 collaboration with fellow songwriter Vance Gilbert, Side of the Road. By that point, though, Ellis was more than a decade into a career that has seen him emerge as one of the most respected songwriters in the highly competitive Boston folk music circuit. In his now two decade career, Ellis has won over a dozen Boston Music Awards, and listeners of Boston's folk radio station WUMB recently voted him their second favorite artist of all time (behind only Bob Dylan).

Ellis' new album The Day After Everything Changed should do nothing to diminish his standing. He's crafted fifteen deeply affecting songs about people whose lives are are changing (usually for the worse) and how they deal with the upheaval. Whether the subject of the song is the Katrina victim in "Hurricane Angel," the Confederate officer returning from defeat in "The Cotton's Burning," or the college bound teen leaving his innocence and his first love in "Annalee," the emotions in each tune ring true. The song I'm sharing here is one of the quieter moments from the album, "Rose Tattoo." The protagonist here has just been laid off and, with his world in upheaval, finds stability and comfort in his family.

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