Tinsley Ellis - Devil For A Dime (2009)

...getting back to Blues!

Tinsley Ellis (born June 4, 1957, Atlanta, Georgia) is an American blues/rock musician who grew up in southern Florida. His love for electric blues grew by listening to British Invasion bands such as The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, and The Rolling Stones. In 1977, he played with the Haygood Band while attending at Oxford Emory University near Atlanta. Two years later, already an accomplished musician, he returned to Atlanta and joined his first band, The Alley Cats, a group that included Preston Hubbard of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Mike Marinelli saxophonist, who was a Berklee College of Music woodwind instructor. Ellis graduated from Emory University in 1979 with a degree in history. In 1981 he formed The Heartfixers, with the singer and harmonica player Chicago Bob Nelson. The group recorded three albums for the small Landslide record label, one with the singer Nappy Brown before breaking up in 1988. The same year Ellis signed a recording contract with Chicago’s Alligator Records.

His debut solo album on Alligator Records Georgia Blue was released in 1988. Alligator then reissued two of his earlier CDs, Cool On It and Tore Up (featuring Nappy Brown). Ellis' next four releases were Fanning The Flames (1989), Trouble Time (1992), Storm Warning (1994), and Fire It Up (1997).

Ellis’ reputation and media coverage continued to grow. He appeared on NBC-TV Sports during the network’s 1996 Summer Olympic coverage. Ellis shifted to Capricorn Records in 2000 and released Kingpin. In 2002 he joined Telarc Records, producing two CDs: Hell Οr High Water and The Hard Way. All the while Ellis never stopped touring. "A musician never got famous by staying home" Ellis says. Ellis claims to have performed live, at least once, in all 50 United States.

He returned to Alligator Records in 2005 with the live album, Live! Highwayman. In 2007 he released the studio album, Moment Οf Truth, followed in 2009 with Speak No Evil. In 2013 we saw Get It!

He has shared stages with Warren Haynes, Widespread Panic, Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins and Buddy Guy...

We see him in the following video. The title of the song is Devil For A Dime (from a concert 4 years ago)...