Tinsley Ellis rolled into Annapolis on Feb. 11 on tour supporting his second acoustic blues album, Labor of Love. The show at Rams Head On Stage was well-received by a crowd of seemingly dedicated fans.
Once known for his full-band blazing electric guitar prowess, Ellis has refined his approach. His last couple tours have left the band behind, and featured solo performances by a skillful seated craftsman wielding his instrument of choice. Ellis has previously described this solo approach as his Two Guitars And A Car tour. He says this allows him more time to engage his audience with stories. This time around he added a mandolin to his musical arsenal.
Ellis started out on a 6-string acoustic Martin guitar. He also utilized a beautiful 1937 National Steel guitar, which he took the time to describe and show off to the crowd, including the artwork on the back of the guitar body. He explained that these guitars were built to feed America’s craze for Hawaiian music, but they became beloved by blues musicians because they were loud.
He mixed in some tasty slide work with his precise fingerpicking. He also used a stomp box to support the rhythm of the songs, coaxing different tones from it using different parts of his boots. He had the mandolin on stage, teasing us with it, until he brought it ought for his encore of “Sad Sad Song.”
Ellis grew up in Georgia and Florida and told about loving the rock guitarists of the day, but he kept hearing them refer to the great BB King. During a week-long residency at The Swingers Club in north Florida, King performed a Saturday afternoon matinee show that a young Tinsley convinced his father to drive him and his friends to. He knew he was watching someone special. During the show, King broke a string and gave it to the young fan. Ellis says he still has that string.
Watch the official music video for “Hoodoo Woman” by Tinsley Ellis on YouTube:
After some success down South, Ellis moved his band to Chicago, where occasionally the great blues guitar players of the day would invite them onstage to play and show what they could do. Ellis mentioned that, of all the greats he met, including Howling Wolf, Albert King, etc., “No one could cut Albert Collins.”
While in Chicago, Ellis wrote his classic “Hell or High Water.” One day, a 14-year-old guitarist asked him to teach him the lick. That youngster was Jonny Lang, who would grow up to record a very successful cover version of the song.
Ellis used multiple open tunings for the songs on the new record, explaining while carefully re-tuning during the show that, “Tuning is very important in Western civilization.”
Last Summer, Ellis traveled to Bentonia, Mississippi, known as the birthplace of the legendary Skip James. While there, he spent time with Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and played with him at his famous Blue Front Cafe. Ellis reverently described Holmes as the last of the classic bluesmen from Bentonia. That time in Bentonia was the inspiration for the songs on Labor of Love.
Ellis’s regard for Holmes and the other bluesmen who have influenced his playing is obvious, and the stories he told helped share that love and respect with his audience, ideally inspiring them to listen to the original artists. Ellis chose to cover songs by Ricky Allen, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, and Son House. Although I had heard other artists versions of Cut You A-Loose, I had not heard Ricky Allen’s original recording, but I’ve already found it and listened to it.
Tinsley Ellis demonstrated that good music, stripped down to its essence, can be just as compelling as a big stage show. Live music doesn’t need flashing lights and pyrotechnics to be entertaining. It just needs love and dedication.
Setlist
Pawnbroker
Cut You A-Loose (Ricky Allen cover)
A Quitter Never Wins
Hell or High Water
Long Time
Sweet Ice Tea
Whole Wide World
The Trouble With Love
To a Hammer
Sunnyland
Hoodoo Woman
The Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon cover)
Devil in the Room
Too Broke
Grown Ass Man
Low Land of Sorrow
Lay My Burden Down
Tallahassee Blues
Love in Vain Blues (Robert Johnson cover)
Death Letter (Son House cover)
Encore:
Sad Sad Song
Here are some photos of Tinsley Ellis performing live at Rams Head on Stage on Feb. 11, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.
