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Sunday February 23rd, 20256PM DOORS
$20
ALL AGES
ROBERT ELLIS
Andrew Montana
Recorded liveto tape in just two days, Robert Ellis’s exquisite new album, Yesterday’s News, is as stripped-down asit gets, with the celebrated songwriter and producer’s delicate, reedy tenoraccompanied only by nylon string guitar, upright bass, and the occasional pieceof handheld percussion. The arrangements are harmonically sophisticated here,drawing on the open tunings and intricate fingerpicking of English songwriterslike Nick Drake or Richard Thompson, and Ellis’s performances are similarlysubtle and nuanced, tapping into the bittersweet longing of Chet Baker and theplayful poignancy of Bill Evans and Jim Hall.
While thatmight seem surprising coming off 2019’s raucous Texas Piano Man, subverting expectations is nothing new for Ellis.Born and raised outside Houston, he gained early acclaim for his piercingintrospection and absorbing narratives, but over the course of five soloalbums, he flirted with everything from Paul Simon and John Prine to Elton Johnand Joni Mitchell in a series of sonic and visual transformations that ran thegamut from Redneck Steely Dan to Lone Star Liberace. NPR hailed his “musical daring and impeccable songcraft,” while Rolling Stone praised his “sharp eye forstorytelling,” and the New York Timeslauded his writing as an emotional “gut punch.”
Yesterday’s News marksEllis’s debut LP for Niles City Records, an outgrowth of the famed Niles CitySound studio he and longtime collaborator Josh Block run in Fort Worth, TX.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
3210 Old Hernando Rd. Memphis TN 38116, 3210 Hernando St, Memphis, TN 38116, United States,Memphis, Tennessee
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