Southern blues-rock guitar legend Tinsley Ellis, who has built a worldwide fan base with his combustible mix of gritty roadhouse rhythms and brawny guitar muscle, returns to Alligator Records with Winning Hand. He has over 175,000 career scans despite his first two records pre-dating SoundScan.
Tinsley is one of the blues world’s best-loved, most
well-travelled statesmen. He has performed in all
50 United States, as well as Canada, Western and
Eastern Europe, Australia and South America.
Recorded in Nashville and produced by Ellis and keyboardist Kevin McKendree, the ten brilliantly performed, fervently sung tracks on Winning Hand include nine originals, ranging from blistering blues to heart-pounding rock to soulful ballads. As his only cover song, Ellis pays tribute to his greatest guitar-playing and songwriting influences with a Freddie King-inspired version of rock legend Leon Russell’s Dixie Lullaby. “Guitar, guitar, guitar is what this album is all about,” says Ellis, who recorded primarily with his 1959 Fender Stratocaster, his 1967 Gibson ES 345 and his 1973 Les Paul Deluxe. Guitar World says, “Ellis’ playing sparkles with depth and subtlety. Whether playing deep, slow blues or uptempo rockers, Ellis rides a gorgeously fat, pure tone.”