Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love: Seven Years, Midnight Ride, Give It Away, Hard Work, All In The Name Of Love, Should I Have Lied, Leave Me, The King Must Die, Everything, In From The Cold
Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love Personnel: Tinsley Ellis: guitars, vocals, harmonica on Everything, Wurlitzer piano on In From The Cold, Kevin McKendree: organs, pianos, Mellotron and tympani on In From The Cold, Lynn Williams: drums, Steve Mackey: bass, Jim Hoke: saxophone on All In The Name Of Love, Steve Herrman: trumpet on All In The Name Of Love
Tinsley Ellis produced Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love on his own Heartfixer Music label, which he launched in 2013, and is distributed by Landslide Records.
Although I had never heard of Tinsley Ellis before giving his latest release, Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love a listen, he has thrilled audiences throughout the United States and around the world for 35 years and has released 17 albums. Picking up the guitar at age 8, Tinsley Ellis has made a name for himself as a talented six-string Southern Blues Rock guitarist, songwriter, and composer, who was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame in December 2014, and I was happy to finally make his acquaintance through this release.
The release opens with the song, Seven Years that sets the groove and the pace with its rhythmic guitar intro before segueing into Tinsley’s raspy vocals made for singing the blues with its lyrics "You’ve got me walkin’ round in circles wiping the tears from my eyes…"; followed by Midnight Ride a catchy song that defies you to keep your feet still with its stunning guitar riffs.
Tinsley turns down the notch a bit on track 3, Give It Away, slowing the pace to allow listeners to catch their breath before segueing into Hard Work, which picks up the pace as if to say enough resting, time to get back in the groove.
Definitely a highlight of the release is All In The Name Of Love a slow, sultry piece that is as seductive as love itself and features the excellent brass of Jim Hoke on saxophone and Steve Hermann on trumpet adding another layer to complement Tinsley’s vocals on this gorgeous song.
Next in the line-up is Should I Have Lied, another release winner and shows Tinsley’s guitar mastery with its teasing instrumental intro. Tinsley gives the song, Everything the full Blues harmonica treatment and that alone is well worth the price of the CD. Other tracks on the release include: Leave Me with Kevin McKendree working his magic on the piano, and The King Must Die.
The release closes in grand style with In From The Cold, a delicious Blues lament with Tinsley playing Wurlitzer piano joined by Kevin McKendree who layers in the Mellotron and tympani on this impressive song.
From start to finish, you’ll be glad to have made the acquaintance or get reacquainted with Southern Blues Rocker Tinsley Ellis as Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love is well worth many a listen.
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Websites where you can procure Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love are Amazon and Best Buy.
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