Bluesman Tinsley Ellis continues to rock out

Photo by: Flournoy Holmes

Photo

Tinsley Ellis

By John Benson

entertainment@vindy.com

Perhaps living up to the adage you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, singer-guitarist Tinsley Ellis isn’t a big fan of modern recording techniques, which find bands big and small recording at home using Pro Tools and other computer programs. What may seem to be nothing more than an obstinate stance actually has some merit.

“Yeah, it sounds like crap when people try to make their own albums in their house,” said Ellis, calling from his Atlanta home. “I don’t cut corners. We go into the same studios here in Atlanta that Bruce Springsteen and Outkast go into and try to make good sounding records. So I’m not a big fan of the lo-fi movement, but that’s me.”

You better believe there is nothing lo-fi on Ellis’ 2009 album “Speak No Evil,” which is a follow-up to 2007 effort “Moment of Truth.” Among the 53-year-old music veteran’s favorite new tracks are the four-on-the-floor rocking “Sunlight of Love,” the wah-wah heavy “Amanda” and the swampy “Slip and Fall.”

Even though Ellis is technically still touring “Speak No Evil,” he says his return to Youngstown on Friday night will feature a few tracks from his next studio effort. This includes the Robin Trower-esque “Saving Grace” and the bluesy rock tune “You Can Never Tell.”

Fans who want a hint of the new material need not look — or listen — any further from the heavy-rocking vibe found on “Speak No Evil.” So why exactly is Ellis going through another rocking-out phase of his career?

“Maybe I’ve come full circle, because in the ’70s this was the music I liked, Cream and ZZ Top and [Jimi] Hendrix,” Ellis said. “I just feel comfortable in doing it. I don’t feel comfortable in slicking my hair back and wearing some kind of vintage clothing and trying to do some kind of a zoot-suit-blues movement thing. In other words, it’s not really retro. And yet the purists scoff, but gosh, there are hardly any blues purists left anymore.”

In case you missed it, Ellis doesn’t care for the blues purists of the world. But where have these traditionalists gone?

“Away, I hope,” Ellis said, laughing. “They’re very close-minded, and really, it’s the same people that would have mocked Bob Dylan for going electric. We all know ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ is a great song. They probably wouldn’t have liked that. I don’t know, I think blues needs to move forward. If somebody can ever figure out a way to mix blues with hip-hop, they’ll probably be the next Robert Johnson.”

What about Ellis exploring that style during the next phase of his career?

“No chance of that,” Ellis said. “I am to hip-hop what Raymond Burr was to pole vaulting.”