Artist:     Tinsley Ellis

Album:     Ice Cream in Hell

Label:     Alligator

Release Date:     1.31.2020

88

BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

We’re capping off an exceptionally strong month of blues releases with one of best titled albums, Ice Cream in Hell, another proven winner from venerable guitar slinger and vocalist Tinsley Ellis. Remarkably, this is Elllis’ 18^th album, and like most of recent vintage, it’s produced in conjunction with his longtime cohort and superb keyboardist Kevin McKendree (who also produces Delbert McClinton and John Hiatt). At a point in his career where many might be accused of simply “mailing it in” Ellis is on a roll, with last year’s Winning Hand receiving a BMA nomination, as well as Ellis receiving one for Blues Rock Artist of the Year.

 McKendree called on his Nashville buddies to form the backing band. Steve Mackey (Bass), Lynn Williams (drums), Jim Hoke (sax) and Quentin Ware (trumpet). The latter two play just on the opening “Last One to Know” and “Everything and Everyone.” The 11 tracks are all Ellis originals.

Ellis has built his reputation as a highly energetic, relentlessly touring performer who plays the blues with a rocker’s attack. Yes, he is the quintessential blues-rocker but he’s several cuts above among most in that category. His music has always been honest, impassioned, and genuinely intense. He can seemingly raise the roof of most venues with just a small burst of notes, but despite his success and longevity, he doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his songwriting, which improves incrementally on each release. His songs, mostly styles in basic blues constructs, speak to common shared experiences in uncommon ways. While he has always sounded raw and unpretentious, Ellis thinks this album is the most raw-sounding, guitar-drenched in his career. That’s saying something, but just a few bars into the opening Albert-King Stax-era “Last One to Know,” you’ll be nodding your head in agreement.

This is gutsy, take-no-prisoners stuff that Ellis authors. It’s as if he pays homage to so many who came before him whether it be the Kings, Santana, Hound Dog Taylor, and others. For example, “Everything and Everyone” channels Peter Green while “Sit Tight Mama” nods to Taylor (like “Give me Back My Wig”). The mid-tempo title track matches the heat and cool of its title, and credits his adoring live audiences as the “ice cream” for the “hell” of being constantly on the road. “Unlock My Heart” is pure boogie-woogie rock ‘n’ roll a la Freddie King. Yet, for all the blistering fire of his hard rocking tunes, the highlights for this writer are his two achingly slow blues tunes, where his guitar solos are chill-inducing. Both “Hole in My Heart” and the closing “Your Love’s Like Heroin” are in the seven minute range, with incendiary guitar and emotive vocals complimenting each other perfectly.

Having seen Ellis live last year, one lasting visual impression is the lineup of five different guitars on stage, all of which he uses during his show. In one sense, what Ellis is doing resembles the early work of British guitarists Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, but Ellis has become more fluid, subtle, and lyrical over the years. Here, though, he mostly unleashes unabashed power. Play it LOUD and refuse to issue any apologies.

—Jim Hynes