And the Allmans did it after Duane was gone. “Little Feat did that when Lowell George. But quite a few like the Allman Brothers, they would always get the best possible person to replace someone who had left or been fired or passed away,” Ellis says. “Some groups weren’t so careful about the replacement players. This leads to a side discussion about currently active classic rock-era bands that don’t feature a lot of original members or the same members who recorded their most famous material. But thematically, you want a more positive message.”Įllis cites personal faves Little Feat as an example of a band who can write upbeat songs that aren’t necessarily fast. “And we thought about opening the album with that song. Ellis says that it’s not based on fiction or imagination. “Right Down the Drain,” details the narrator’s predicament after pursuing perhaps too much of a good time-with some narcotic assistance. There are a couple of long, slow sad songs, but the tempo is kicked up a bit on this one. That’s even down to the cover of this, with a lot of color and lightness. That’s why we wanted an album with something more. “It would look like past two years!” he says. Photo by Elaine Thomas Campbell So, what would Hell look like for the 64-year-old Tinsley Ellis? Others include “Beat the Devil,” the voodoo magic of “Ju Ju” and closer “Slow Train to Hell” one of several references to the Underworld and its leader sprinkled throughout. The songs on D evil May Care run the gamut from Southern rock (“One Less Reason,” “Right Down the Drain”) and slow burns (“Don’t Bury Our Love”) to Hendrix-like blues rock rave ups (“Step Up,” “28 Days”). Or the Gibson for an Allman Brothers one,” Ellis offers. If you’re going to play a Robert Cray-style song, you have to reach for a Fender. “When I do a song, I basically think ‘this might be good to use a Stratocaster on’ or ‘this will be a Fender song or a Gibson song.’ That dictated it. King, and the Allman Brothers Band for further inspiration. He also dug deep into obscure studio and live recordings from his musical heroes like Freddie King, Michael Bloomfield, B.B. He pulled out every one of his guitars and amplifiers-along with a piano and some other equipment-and nearly 40 different guitar slides at the same time, going from instrument to instrument as he crafted the material. It will be released on January 21, the same day he and his band start a nationwide tour that will see them play the album in its entirety, along with material that spans his whole career.īack in Atlanta, Ellis did something that he’s never done before in the writing process. Ten of those tunes show up on his latest record, Devil May Care (Alligator). I was so worried about losing my chops, that I designated every morning from 7 a.m. And if you think learning to bake bread or cleaning out the garage qualifies as a Pandemic Achievement, consider this: In 18 months, Ellis wrote 200 new songs. So that was to adjust to.”Įllis used that long 2,400-mile car trip from the last gig in Reno, Nevada to his home base of Atlanta, Georgia, to figure out exactly what he was going to do now. But that’s what a performer does, play live. “I did have 19 albums out, so I didn’t starve to death. “Man, did that really suck!” Ellis says from his home. It was the first time in 40 years he was unable to gig in front of live audiences, his primary source of income. tour to promote his just-released studio record Ice Cream in Hell, the blues singer/guitarist and his band were (like every other musical act) forced off the road due to the pandemic.
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