One viciously hot day this summer, I wound up in the frosty confines of the Cactus Café on the University of Texas campus for a stellar evening of song with Robert Ellis. Jonny Corndawg opened, he brings a zany Steven Wright-esque approach to his music. Or maybe Jonny should be counted among the likes of John Hartford and John Prine, the school of acerbically analyzing the oddities of life. Whatever, Jonny is a decidedly left of center character who quite obviously marches to a different drum. Check out his homage, “When a Ford Man Turns To Chevy” here. He just released a record called Down On The Bikini Line. It is required listening. I admit, I am a sucker for the strains and refrains of old school country. And I like it served with a distillation of modernity on it too, a twist of a phrase that speaks of ‘today.’
photo by Tim GriffinAt 22, Robert Ellis is a young master of the genre. At the Cactus, he brought his band, equally as elegant as they are earthy. They deliver another level, bringing hipster and traditional together, all wrapped up in a baritone-led package. Robert is as comfortable sharing the bill with the likes of Dawes, as he is with Jamey Johnson and George Jones, his hero, with whom he will share the stage at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin on October 6th. All his dates are here. Music Fog had a magic moment of our own with Robert Ellis during our Spring Marathon at Threadgill’s in March. From that session, we bring you a solo version of “Friends Like Those.”
- Jessie Scott
