Tinsley Ellis
Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 7:00PM
Join us Saturday March 21 at 7:00pm, as we welcome a true blues rock legend, called an “Atlanta Blues Icon” and a “Road Warrior,” due to his extensive touring and blues mastery. Tickets can be purchased directly from this page; if any tickets remain at show time, they will be $5–$10 higher at the gate.
Ellis delivers a powerful punch of deep roots blues and wicked guitar prowess…Hold on to your hat and get ready for a foot-stomping, raucous and raw good time…a joyous and triumphant celebration of acoustic music. You’ll feel it down to the bone.
— Living Blues
Atlanta-based musician Tinsley Ellis—known for decades as one of the greatest electric blues-rock guitarists of his generation—is now also recognized as one of the very best contemporary acoustic blues guitarists, songwriters, and performers in the world. With 2024’s critically acclaimed and Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth, Ellis unplugged with his first-ever acoustic album. On it he mixed his own striking original songs — inspired by Son House, Skip James, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters — with a few 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.”
Glorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues…Ellis’ resonant, crystal-clear baritone delivers chilling lyrics like an Old Testament prophet accompanied by an unruly slide guitar…killer vocals and biting, dazzling guitar work.
— AllMusic
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Georgia Blue, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit the unprepared public by surprise in 1988, as press and radio brought his music to more people than ever before. His next four releases—1989’s Fanning The Flames, 1992’s Trouble Time, 1994’s Storm Warning, and 1997’s Fire It Up—further grew his reputation as well as his audience. (His song A Quitter Never Wins, a highlight of Storm Warning, was recorded by Jonny Lang, selling almost two million copies.) Features and reviews ran in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and in many other national and regional publications. And he backed it all up performing hundreds of nights per year. Rolling Stone declared, “Feral blues guitar…non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge…his eloquence dazzles…he achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”
Stripped down and raw, rousing and surprising…gruff unembellished vocals…glistening melodies fingerpicked with delicacy…so genuine it seems like a lost recording from decades ago.
—Blues Music Magazine
Select your seats right on this page and join us on Saturday March 21 at 7:00pm, at “The Roots Music Palace of the Ozarks,” Harrison’s historic 1929 Lyric Theater, as we welcome a true master of blues-rock, Tinsley Ellis!
both from his solo career and from his time in the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos.
their playing and our culture as a whole. The music of Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Tom Petty has made for a unifying showcase of the talents of several local bands, and now Eric Clapton’s music will do the same. This promises to be another experience Harrison area music lovers will talk about for years, and one well worth coming from out of town to see. 
About NPR, from NPR.band:
“A Blues Soul with a Rock ’n’ Roll Heart”
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he fell in love with music as a kid, listening to everyone from Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix to Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen. At 14 years old, Anthony gravitated to the guitar and his relationship with the instrument was born. After grinding it out, his chops caught the attention of B.B. King’s bus driver at a jam night. Blown away, the driver introduced him to B.B. who invited him to open up a string of tour dates in 2005. Gaining invaluable knowledge from “The King,” he went on to share the stage with the likes of Buddy Guy, Robert Plant, Joe Bonamassa, Heart, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and more. Along the way, his concert attendees have included Academy® Award winner Morgan Freeman, John Goodman, and Vince Vaughn as well as Eric Clapton, to name but a few.
2018’s Peace, Love & Loud Guitars vaulted to #1 on the iTunes Top Blues Albums Chart and #1 on Amazon Music’s New Release Blues Chart. Meanwhile, Guitar World readers voted him one of “The 30 Best Blues Guitarists in the World Today” in 2019, and the publication noted, “Gomes is another power player who is at his best when his gear is in the scorched earth between blues and rock.” After seven consecutive Top 10 debuts on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart, Containment Blues marked his second #1 on the respective chart in 2020.
“I’m either the last of a dying breed or the start of a new revolution,” he smiles. “I still believe in a world of guitar heroes. I strive for a world where you don’t have to be 19 years old to sell a lot of records and tickets and to make a statement. I’m one of those people who doesn’t think rock—or the blues—is dead. I’m looking for fresh ways to bring them together. I’m at the table rolling the dice all in the name of blues and rock ’n’ roll. I know there’s never been a more exciting time for music, and I’m here for the journey.”
has been making his mark globally as one of the top players in the new class of six string wunderkinds.
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