Blues Night with Tinsley Ellis

$30/first 2 rows, $25/general

Tickets available at The Strand box office or through this link: Blues Night with Tinsley Ellis in Kingsbury, NY, Apr 24, 2026 - Events.com

“Ellis delivers a powerful punch of deep roots blues and wicked guitar...a foot-stomping, raucous good time...a joyous and triumphant celebration of acoustic music. You’ll feel it down to the bone.” – Living Blues

“Glorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues...killer vocals and biting, dazzling guitar work.” – AllMusic

“Stripped down and raw...gruff unembellished vocals...glistening melodies fingerpicked with delicacy...so genuine it seems like a long lost recording.” – Blues Music Magazine

Atlanta-based musician Tinsley Ellis—known for decades as one of the greatest electric blues-rock guitarists of his generation—is also recognized as a leading contemporary acoustic blues guitarist, songwriter and performer. With 2024’s critically acclaimed, Blues Music Award–nominated Naked Truth, Ellis unplugged with his first-ever acoustic album, mixing his own originals with reinvented covers. According to No Depression, “Even though it’s just Ellis and his acoustic guitars, there’s plenty of hell-raisin’ blues going on. With the ghost of Elmore James looking over his shoulder and Wolf leaning in... Ellis proves he’s an icon.”

On his new album, Labor Of Love (2026), Ellis delivers a raw, edgy, self-produced set of 13 original compositions performed with emotional honesty. The songs touch on floods, conflagrations, voodoo spirits, personal travails and prayers—from the feral opener “Hoodoo Woman” to the John Lee Hooker–groove of “Long Time,” the Skip James–inspired “To A Hammer,” and the Son House–style stomp of “Sunnyland.” Each performance carries the weight and experience Ellis has learned over four decades on the road.

During a break from recording the new album, Ellis spent time in Bentonia, Mississippi—the birthplace of Skip James and home to Jimmy “Duck” Holmes—where he soaked up the spirit of Bentonia blues and performed with Holmes at the Blue Front Café. After returning home he incorporated those experiences into his music.

For the album Ellis used six different open tunings on his 1969 Martin D-35, his 12-string Martin D-12-20, and his 1937 National Steel O Series guitars. He also played mandolin on three songs. Since the 2024 release of Naked Truth, Ellis has been touring solo in his jokingly named “Two Guitars And A Car” tour. “I love doing these shows,” Ellis says. “No matter what I play, I like to have an edge. For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them. I always told myself if I could just make a living playing the blues, I’d be, at least in my own mind, successful.” Premier Guitar: “Ellis is a legend of American blues music...he’s an American music treasure. He delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues, and is one of modern blues’ greatest performers.”

BIOGRAPHY

Tinsley Ellis was born in Atlanta in 1957 and raised in southern Florida. He got his first guitar at age seven after seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. He discovered the blues through British Invasion bands and Southern rock, and cites an early memory of B. B. King giving him a broken guitar string after a show.

Ellis moved to Atlanta as a teenager and joined the Alley Cats. In 1981 he formed The Heartfixers with singer/harpist Chicago Bob Nelson; they became a top-drawing Atlanta blues band and recorded four albums. Ellis launched a solo career with Georgia Blue (Alligator, 1988) and followed with Fanning The Flames (1989), Trouble Time (1992), Storm Warning (1994), and Fire It Up (1997). Rolling Stone praised his “feral blues guitar...his eloquence dazzles...he achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”

In the 2000s Ellis released albums on Capricorn and Telarc, returned to Alligator in 2005 with Live–Highwayman, and later released Moment Of Truth (2007) and Speak No Evil (2009). He self-released four albums on his Heartfixer label before returning to Alligator in 2018 with Winning Hand, followed by Ice Cream In Hell (2020) and Devil May Care (2022). On Naked Truth (2024) and Labor Of Love (2026) he shifted to acoustic folk blues, touring extensively as a solo performer.

Ellis has played across all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. He has shared stages with The Allman Brothers, Warren Haynes, Buddy Guy, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov’t Mule, Widespread Panic, and more. Joe Bonamassa calls Ellis “a national treasure.”