Music
Press
"Songs and stories wrung out of the mills and laundromats of this daily planet. Peopled by folks you know. Folks who live and die in towns all over America and never make the evening news. You don't learn to write these songs in songwriting workshops. It's beyond technique; more than the sum of its parts."
- Reed Perkins, Below the Radar.
"When Ellsworth brings you along for a ride, you're riding shotgun in an old beat up Chevy. The wind is in your hair and the landscape rushes by like some long gone Saturday matinee. You know you've been here before; you're smiling. This is the roots of Rock and Roll. Seat belts haven't even been invented yet."
- Steve Innerman, RocToc.
"From the first song, Ellsworth sets his agenda, and that agenda is to make an absolute blinder of an album. The tunes are fantastic - singalongable, lighter-waveable, head-noddable. Ellsworth and chum play super-hot guitar - light, heart-plucking, perfect solos, and melodic backing that culminates in a truly satisfying album." - Rawkstar.net, Helen Purves
"If the current state of rock radio was not such a complete mess, this release would probably garner a lot of attention from radio programmers. As it is, you will probably have to discover this album on your own. But the discovery is well worth it."
- Americana Homeplace Radio
"...what sets this pair [Ellsworth & Hicks] apart is the casual way they come across as throwbacks to a time when songwriters sought to make some sense of the world, rather than settle for vocal acrobatics."
- Mike Wolf, Music Editor
I think Ellsworth is a great artist and if he would have been releasing CD's back in the 70's when he had first started, we might have heard of him a little sooner...with money behind him and the right producer, he has the voice and the ideas to be a major success. - Michael Nicholson, IndieMusicDigest
“…telling tales in the vein of Springsteen and Mellencamp, utilising a truly splendid turn of phrase to vividly bring his songs to life. This has the added bonus of opening up new lyrical nuances with repeated plays especially on the title track 'American Compost', the intimate 'Every Time She Thinks About Marie' and the pleading 'Can Anyone Hear Me'.” - Zeitgeist.com, Stuart A Hamilton
“…we’ve picked up the title cut American Compost (which we really like and would encourage you to pay special attention to the lyrics), the hook filled She’s So Sweet and Madam Freud (from the moment we heard this cut, our toes started tapping and that meant this one had to go in)." - Radio Free David. David Schneider
This is just a wonderful album. It is one great song after another...all with the élan of the true artist. His lyrics are masterful and his melodies moving. - Doug Treadway, Nightflying; The Entertainment Guide
Discography
CD - "Ask Around" - Ellsworth and Hicks - duo - 1999
CD - "Not Quite Single-handed" - Ellsworth - solo - 2000
CD - "Jalopy" - Ellsworth - solo - 2002
CD - "Back to NYC" - Ellsworth & the Lost Boys - band - 2003
CD - "American Compost" - Ellsworth Band - 2007
CD - "Bright Red Road" - Ellsworth Band - 2010
Photos
Bio
Ellsworth is a songwriter/singer/performer. He has been writing songs and performing in bands and solo since the ‘70’s. In 1999 he and longtime partner Phil Hicks released their debut acoustic, country/blues album, "Ask Around". It was selected as a finalist in the 2000 Crossroads Music Awards.
His second studio CD, "American Compost", is a smart, rockin' romp down the Great American Rock & Roll Superhighway. It has received rave critical reviews for the urgent vitality of the songs and for the raw passion left in the mix.
You can buy "AMERICAN COMPOST" AT: http://cdbaby.com/cd/ellsworth
Ellsworth's 3rd and newest studio album, Bright Red Road, is a bit less edgy than American Compost. Here he seems to tip his hat to the past with an air of acceptance and a need to move on. It's a tuneful testament to that point in time when you turn away, not with resignation or regret, but with closure. The first song will coax you in the door. After that it's a wild hayride down the potholed terrain of present-day Americana. Guitar, piano, accordion, saxophone, cello, fiddle & harmonica are the various vehicles for the always-bewitching narrative. The songs are strong, unique, joyous, petulant, unruly, frustrating, like a bunch of schoolyard kids in late summer. The singer's moods follow suit. The album holds together by attitude, not design - and gets better with each listen.
You can buy "BRIGHT RED ROAD" AT: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/Ellsworth2
Besides songwriting and performing, Ellsworth began producing music shows around the New York and New England area. His summertime Sunset Music Series on “the barge” in Brooklyn’s Redhook has become one of the coolest, sought after gigs in NYC. He also produces the Bull Run Concert Series at the Bull Run Restaurant in Massachusetts where he brings in “All the great performers I admired growing up.” This gave him the opportunity to meet and share the stage with some giants like Leon Russell, Levon Helm, Graham Parker, Maria Muldaur and Johnny Winter.
Some of Ellsworth’s highly original songs have been featured on radio, internet and feature films. “The Moon is a Faithless Lover” was in Ghetto Dawg with Drena DeNiro and Gianna Palminteri. And “The Things I Gotta Do to Stay Alive - Are Killing Me” was in The Clinic, an independent film that won Best Screenplay in the NYII Film Festival. His song “Up Above the World” was picked for the 2004 UMO Music: The 14 Best Singer/Songwriters of Greenwich Village compilation CD. And “Every Time She Thinks About Marie” received "Honorable Mention" in the 2009 Billboard World Song Contest.
"From the first song, Ellsworth sets his agenda, and that agenda is to make an absolute blinder of an album. The tunes are fantastic - singalongable, lighter-waveable, head-noddable. Ellsworth and chum play super-hot guitar - light, heart-plucking, perfect solos, and melodic backing that culminates in a truly satisfying album." - Helen Purves, Rawstar.net
"If the current state of rock radio was not such a complete mess, this release would probably garner a lot of attention from radio programmers. As it is, you will probably have to discover this album on your own. But the discovery is well worth it." - Americana Homeplace Radio
“When Ellsworth brings you along for a ride you're riding shotgun in an old beat up Chevy. You feel the wind in your hair. The landscape rushes by like some old Saturday matinee and you know you've been here before. You're smiling. This is the roots of Rock and Roll. Seat belts haven't even been invented yet."... Steve Innerman, RocToc.
"...what sets [Ellsworth and Hicks] apart is the casual way they come across as throwbacks to a time when songwriters sought to make some sense of the world, rather than settle for vocal acrobatics." - Mike Wolf - Music Editor, Time Out New York.
Links
