My Wife Carol wandered into my little workspace a few weeks back and asked me if I knew who Tinsley Ellis was..."Yes, why"?..."He is playing up at the Coconino Performing Arts Center in Flagstaff on the 20th"..."Nice, let's go"....Now let me just toss this out.... I know of Tinsley because of this site, never really dove into his music, but had always been acutely aware of his connection to Duane & Gregg,...Shout out to the community for the constant sharing of music and the artists who've given their all...
Showtime. We had purchased front row seats for this show having been there only once before to see "The Prince of Polyester" aka David Lindley perform a solo show about 7 seven years prior.... We walked down to our seats in this very intimate setting and found ourselves about 8 feet from his guitars and his chair. A seated amplified, acoustic performance with about 100 people in a small Ampitheater...sweet. He had with him a 20-30's National resonator & what was I believe a 60's Martin D-28?.....Seated for about 5 minutes, Tinsley and the host for the event came out and Mr. Ellis was introduced to the crowd....From that point on, the show just soared. Now not only is Tinsley a wizard with a guitar, but he is quite the storyteller as well and for me, some of the names he dropped.... Duane and Gregg, Koko Taylor, Skip James, Muddy Waters & Son House and many more were the soundtrack of my life..... He got after it with both the Martin & the National playing quite a few cuts off his newest CD ..."Naked Truth"...that was beautifully woven between passion and storytelling..."I was and am really happy with my memories of those two, never saw Duane but got to know Gregg pretty well over the years" he started and then told this one...Gregg Allman ... "I am to moderation what Raymond Burr was to pole vaulting"...then he looked to the crowd and referenced any of us who recalled "Perry Mason".....nice. He recalled that it seemed Gregg,. . . just couldn't get his name right and was..."Ellis Tinsley"...He spoke of the great Blues players of days gone by, a fascinating story of how Son House was located after not having touched a guitar "for 40 years" and reunited with a live audience...On the music side he played a cut off his newest CD, "Silver Mountain" that featured a perfect tease of "Kashmir" ....when I mentioned this to him, he smiled and told me "That part is not the CD"....I'll take one anyway...
Martin & National, back and forth, when the show was complete....he stood and bowed thanks, smiled and walked behind the two guitars, presenting them one at a time as if they were participants in a Pageant. The National won easily and we got an Encore.
Fantastic musical evening and after the show when Tinsley was in the Lobby greeting and smiling with everyone who approached, I stepped up and introduced myself and my Wife and said.... "You were speaking of and playing music from the soundtrack of my life".....
The Road goes on Forever.....
