Ellis Paul “Annalee”

It’s nice to be reminded about why you like an artist.

My friend Scott took me to see Ellis Paul this weekend at The Narrows.

Ellis’ previous records have been on the Rounder/Philo label, but his new album “The Day Everything Changed” was funded thanks to over $100,000 in donations from his fans.

It’s always good to catch an artist in concert right around the time of a record release. The new songs are fresh, but not so perfect they become airless, and there is a loose, exciting vibe, as the artist plays around with the new material.

I’ve seen Ellis perform before, and if you had asked me before Saturday night, what makes him special, I would have said “He’s a really great songwriter, with a clear, beautiful voice.”

Seeing him this weekend brought those thoughts into sharper focus for me.

Ellis Paul has a clear, beautiful voice, that never gets in the way of what a great songwriter he is.

I started thinking about some of Ellis’ contemporaries, whose voices are The Show. With incredible range and control, their performance is about their voice. Which I’m not putting down. I love hearing an incredible voice, put to the challenge.

But in all of his performance on Saturday, never once did Ellis use his voice in anything but of service to his songs. There were no “Hey Mom, Look What My Voice Can Do!” octave jumps or vocal runs. Even though his voice has the range and the beauty, there were no theatrics.

And the new songs sounded strong. As a thank you to all who supported the making of this new record, he’s made the first single available for free download at Amazon. You’ll have to sign in to Amazon, and download their player (it only takes a minute), but it’s otherwise free.



And check this link some time after January 18th. mvyradio will post the concert in our Narrows archives, so you can stream it for free.

And here's a really funny video about the making of the album cover:

Watch through to the end, to get another free song.