Lyman Ellerman
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Lyman Ellerman

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1993 | INDIE

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | INDIE
Established on Jan, 1993
Solo Americana Country

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Lyman Ellerman’s “I Wish I Were a Train” Processes Jaunty Topics"

Lyman Ellerman’s second studio album I Wish I were A Train, is full of hard knocks and tempered sorrows. Released today on Woodshed Resistance Records with long-time collaborator Jason Morgan, Ellerman’s songs do the hard work of processing his relationship to grief, addiction, women, and greed amongst other jaunty topics you’re not supposed to talk about in polite company.

With influences that range from the brooding baritone of Waylon Jennings and Sturgill Simpson to the bright, classic-rock anthems of The Eagles, I Wish I Were A Train is an album that rewards one for listening straight on through.

Ellerman’s testaments to life are told with just enough detail as to feel universal in their humanity. With an honest and unpolished mirror Ellerman’s songs speak to the heart of what feeds negativity and sorrow, a theme that is doubled down on in songs like “The Addict”, co-written with Larry Brake— “I don’t know if I’m hiding, fighting, or lying anymore.”

Opening the album with the rumbling march of what might be considered a doomsday clock, “Bigger Plans” rides a high wind straight across an apocalyptic storm cloud of sound. Over a bass line that hits you like a shot to the guts, vibrant imagery of mightier forces warns of a comeuppance to those who are “shackled to their treasures” and it becomes clear early on that this album’s themes are written for us all.

In fact, all of Ellerman’s songs share the sobering magnitude of one who’s seen the end, but is still willing to stick around and see how it all plays out. As in the comfy chair of honesty that is sauced out in “Nobody Knows You (Like I Do),” featuring backing vocals by Jessica Dooley and co-written with Keesy Timmer. There is an intimacy and frankness to his songs that soothe the mind like a biting, hand-warmed scotch. And then, after a nap and a shower, we are elevated to earworms like the title track—co-written with Chuck Werner— with its rusty, hand-hewn hook and summery ambivalence.

Lyman Ellerman hosts his latest album like a gentrified fellow whose seen more than he’d care to speak about, but speak about it he does, with a calm romance that keeps you loving the villainous protagonist he’s made of himself.

The album drops today and you can listen to it in full and get your copy on Lyman Ellerman’s website. - Americana Highways - Collins De La Cour


"Best New Music - Lyman Ellerman's "I Wish I Was A train""

On August 10, Nashville singer-songwriter Lyman Ellerman will release a new album, I Wish I Was A Train. Releasing via Woodshed Resistance Records and recorded with Jason Morgan, the album is the latest in a handful of solo releases from Ellerman, who first cut his teeth as a songwriter for other fringe country acts and projects.

In advance of I Wish I Was A Trains‘s release, Ellerman has penned a short essay about the album’s creation. Read it and listen to the album in its entirety below.

“I Wish I Was A Train wasn’t necessarily an easy record to record, let alone write. Things that come from emotional depths, the gut, can be hard to purge. The truth isn’t always the easiest thing to accept. It’s even harder to live sometimes, especially when your truth comes with some troubling realities that you can’t escape.

It’s those facts that set this record apart from my previous work. This collection takes on a more introspective approach. After losing my brother, a cousin, and my best friend within two and a half years of one another, five years later, in 2015, I learned my son had become addicted to heroin and opiates.

A large portion of this work was battling through the hand I’d been dealt, so to speak. It’s impossible for me as a writer not to have the loss, grief, frustration, and, ultimately, love that I’m experiencing in waves come out in whatever it is I’m working on musically at the time. So really, it was a natural progression, a self-preservation at work, coming to fruition in songs.

I want people to be moved by what they hear, to feel something in their heart, soul, and bones. I believe we’re all more alike than we are different and that we all experience many of the same unfortunate circumstances in life. I want to try to help people connect with those emotions and give them a few moments of understanding, compassion, an arm on their shoulder, and say, “It’s alright friend. I’ve been there, and I’m here with you. You’re gonna make it.”

This record is part of my journey. It’s where I stand now. It’s a “record” of this time and events here and now. It’s important to me as an artist that I share it with everyone who’s willing to listen. I hope listening will leave you with something you didn’t have before.”

-Lyman EllermanOn August 10, Nashville singer-songwriter Lyman Ellerman will release a new album, I Wish I Was A Train. Releasing via Woodshed Resistance Records and recorded with Jason Morgan, the album is the latest in a handful of solo releases from Ellerman, who first cut his teeth as a songwriter for other fringe country acts and projects.

In advance of I Wish I Was A Trains‘s release, Ellerman has penned a short essay about the album’s creation. Read it and listen to the album in its entirety below.

“I Wish I Was A Train wasn’t necessarily an easy record to record, let alone write. Things that come from emotional depths, the gut, can be hard to purge. The truth isn’t always the easiest thing to accept. It’s even harder to live sometimes, especially when your truth comes with some troubling realities that you can’t escape.

It’s those facts that set this record apart from my previous work. This collection takes on a more introspective approach. After losing my brother, a cousin, and my best friend within two and a half years of one another, five years later, in 2015, I learned my son had become addicted to heroin and opiates.

A large portion of this work was battling through the hand I’d been dealt, so to speak. It’s impossible for me as a writer not to have the loss, grief, frustration, and, ultimately, love that I’m experiencing in waves come out in whatever it is I’m working on musically at the time. So really, it was a natural progression, a self-preservation at work, coming to fruition in songs.

I want people to be moved by what they hear, to feel something in their heart, soul, and bones. I believe we’re all more alike than we are different and that we all experience many of the same unfortunate circumstances in life. I want to try to help people connect with those emotions and give them a few moments of understanding, compassion, an arm on their shoulder, and say, “It’s alright friend. I’ve been there, and I’m here with you. You’re gonna make it.”

This record is part of my journey. It’s where I stand now. It’s a “record” of this time and events here and now. It’s important to me as an artist that I share it with everyone who’s willing to listen. I hope listening will leave you with something you didn’t have before. - American Songwriter


"With "Nobody Knows You (Like I Do)", Lyman Ellerman Comes to Terms with Secrets (premiere)"

"Who knows you better than you know yourself?" That is the question that Lyman Ellerman poses when asked about his latest song, "Nobody Knows You (Like I Do)". Written through the eyes of a father speaking to his drug-addled son, Ellerman's tender folk ballad delicately unfurls painful truths.

Ellerman continues, "Even if you don't always let everyone know what's 'really' going on inside there. And for the most part, realistically speaking, who does? But coming to terms with those hidden secrets, and what they mean, and what you're willing to reveal, and what you'd prefer to keep hidden is what this song is about. You can't hide from yourself. You can't lie to yourself."

The song builds itself around these complexities in love and light. Ellerman takes the poignant subject matter on with a poetic depth, crafting a world with this soundscape that nearly creates a tangible image of its events carrying out before the listener. It's a soft, sweet arrangement that gradually adds layers of harmony, percussion, pedal steel, and guitars to tell its story.

"I wrote this song with my good pal Keesy Timmer," says Ellerman. "Occasionally when we'd write, we just went for the heart. This was one of those days. No inspiration needed. Just experience. We were the story."

"When we began recording this track we had in mind just acoustic, bass, and drums. Very low key. I suggested getting my daughter Jessica Dooley to sing a harmony line mostly throughout the whole song. She agreed. And she nailed it!! Then as we listened to the playbacks several times we thought it could use some electric guitar inflections. Jason Morgan (producer) kindly asked for some solitude to analyze and absorb the vibe more closely. He added those Les Paul swells subtly and accurately to create an overall haunting sound that enhances the lyric and melody to create one of the most memorable tracks on the record."

"Nobody Knows You (Like I Do)" releases on 10 August via Woodshed Resistance. - Pop Matters


"December 20, 2018 - Americana UK Writers Pick Their Albums of 2018"

Lyman Ellerman ‘I Wish I Was a Train’ (Woodshed Resistance)
This is an album that after regular listening still lingers with and haunts me. Here is Lyman Ellerman’s personal record of life with its highs and lows. But it is an example of one of those Americana CD’s that deserves to reach a much wider audience. Ellerman movingly conveys feelings that range from “run down, tired and empty” to rejoicing in a new day: “Here comes the sunshi - Americana UK / Dave Clarke


Discography

I Wish I Was A train - Woodshed Resistance Records - Aug 10, 2018http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/lymanellerman
Something Better - Woodshed Resistance Records - Aug 20, 2015http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/lymanellermanandthenashv
Get Loose - Woodshed Resistance Records - Aug 10, 2011http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/lymanellermanthenashvill2



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Bio

Lyman Ellerman, a songwriter originally from Riverton, Illinois,
recorded some of his earliest songs in a studio in Baton Rouge where he met Bee Gees' bassist Harold Cowart. Harold helped Lyman produce some of his earliest recordings, while Lyman fronted and toured with Redd Skyy and Ragged Jack throughout the midwest and southern states. As has been the case with so many great lineups,  the constant challenges of keeping a band together on the road eventually led to the dissolution of those bands. But Lyman never stopped writing.

Ellerman eventually moved to
Nashville, where he struck his first publishing deal in 2005. He went on to land
more than 20 independent cuts on various alt-country releases, collaborating with Marshall Tucker Band
founding member and guitarist - George McCorkle, Larry Steele (.38
Special), Buddy Brock (Tracy Byrd, Aaron Tippin), Wil Nance (Brad
Paisley, George Strait), Bill Shore (Garth Brooks) and Keesy Timmer
(Kelsea Ballerini).

Lyman went on to write and record seven records/CDs. His song “Drink Your Wine” (from the Get Loose record) was featured in the 2016 award-winning independent film, Last Call at Murray’s. "I Wish I Was A Train", released in 2018 to critical acclaim, was featured on DittyTV, RockThePigeon.com, Americana Highways, Vents Magazine, AmericanSongwriter.com, LonesomeHighway.com, Cowboys & Indians, WideOpenCountry.com, and was voted one of the Top Albums Of The Year in 2018 by Americana UK.

Having shared stages with George McCorkle, Ward
Davis, Billy Don Burns, Dallas Moore, Jason Eady, Mudbone, and many other iconic American troubadours, Lyman Ellerman is spreading his creative wings once again as he performs his songs solo, up close and personal, with the pure honest emotion they were inspired by and written with. Audiences and club owners are raving, as he embarks on this latest adventure, hitting the highway with nothing but his songs, his time-hewn voice, and a handful of very special guitars, singing and playing his way across the American landscape.  





Band Members