VIDEO: Jeff Ellis @ Taylor Books 5.9
Taking our own advice, we decided to swing by Capitol Street Friday to catch Huntington’s Jeff Ellis for a solo acoustic show at Taylor Books. After working in customer service here at CNP until 7 p.m., I bolted as soon as I was off and met up with Jessica and Mark.
Walking in the door I caught Ellis talking with Huntington Herald-Dispatch writer (and now author) Dave Lavender, put the ‘ol meet & greet on, and went in to get an espresso. I don’t want any milk or cream or latte or anything — gimme a shot! Maybe with some syrup.
I got to talk to Ellis for a minute, and got an advance copy of his new CD “Covering The Distance.” It’s a 12-song alt-folk/country effort that, with Bud Carroll on lead and his Southern Souls in tow, is quite impressive, even for a not-so-finished copy. To see them together, as Carroll and crew have recently been backing Ellis at shows, would be a treat.
“Looks like I’m playin’ for the cameras,” Ellis said as he sat down to play as (to start) there were more cameras than people. Comfortably rolling through stripped-down versions of “I’m Not Leaving This Time,” “West Virginia Hills,” and “Covering The Distance,” off the new CD, he seemed especially at ease talking about the songs, what influenced them, and the recording of them as people slowly filtered in.
You wouldn’t really need to see Ellis wearing a Bob Dylan shirt to hear the influence in songs like “When You Come Back Around” and the bouncy (w/stand-up bass on the CD) harmonica-soaked “Grandpa’s Place.”
After playing the majority of “Distance” — including “The Men in Sago Mine,” and the powerful downers of “Something Bad’s Gonna Happen” and “40 Days” (about swearing off benders, I think), Ellis mixed some of the old with some of the new, doing a version of “The Next Big Thing” from his GCW days, and, predating that, some older songs from his teen years. Ellis said that despite the years, some of those songs are still in the rotation. He also played the powerful first-person accounting of the Iraq war “In Harm’s Way” off last years “A Front Seat For The End Of The World,” one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite CDs.
Ellis is a seasoned performer; having hosted a singer-songwriter night thing with bandmate Phil James out in Huntington at the V Club, I think it was, he was funny and charming talking with the crowd in a relaxed setting. His singing runs from a raspy Dylan in parts to one so strong that I think it blew some of the older folks in attendance away — it sure did me.
By the time we rolled out a little after 9 p.m. Ellis was still playing and I was even more impressed with him than I had been. “Front Seat” and now “Distance,” taken together, are some of the best output from a local singer-songwriter or band that I’ve came across. Rod Lanham of Caustic Eye Productions (who’s helped release Ellis’ CDs) recently told me that Ellis is someone who stands a good chance to “make it” and comparing him to stuff that’s out there, I’d agree.
You’ve read this much — check out some clips of songs off the new Jeff Ellis CD.
– Nick Harrah
PS: If you never have seen it, view this powerful music video of the Jeff Ellis song “In Harm’s Way,” about his service on the edges of the Iraq War.
“I Don’t Know if it’s Love”
“The Day Paul Went to Sleep and Never Woke Up”
