Joe Pug & Robert Ellis
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Joe Pug & Robert Ellis
December 5 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
$37 โ $54
Show Description
Joe Pugย is a singer-songwriter known for his lyrical acumen and plaintive harmonica style.ย Since 2008 he has released a string of critically-acclaimed albums and toured heavily in the U.S. and abroad. Paste Magazine wrote of his music: โUnless your surname is Dylan, Waits, Ritter or Prine, you could face-palm yourself to death trying to pen songs half as inspired.”
He has toured with Steve Earle, Levon Helm, The Killers, Justin Townes Earle, Sturgill Simpson, and many others. He has appeared at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and The Newport Folk Festival. His music has appeared on NPRโs โPrairie Home Companionโ and โMountain Stageโ. His music has been released by Lightning Rod Records, which features an alumni roster of Jason Isbell, Billy Joe Shaver, and James McMurtry.
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Robert Ellisโs exquisite new album, Yesterdayโs News, is as stripped-down as it gets, with the celebrated songwriter and producerโs delicate, reedy tenor accompanied only by nylon string guitar, upright bass, and the occasional piece of handheld percussion. The arrangements are harmonically sophisticated here, drawing on the open tunings and intricate fingerpicking of English songwriters like Nick Drake or Richard Thompson, and Ellisโs performances are similarly subtle and nuanced, tapping into the bittersweet longing of Chet Baker and the playful poignancy of Bill Evans and Jim Hall.
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While that might seem surprising coming off 2019โs raucous Texas Piano Man, subverting expectations is nothing new for Ellis. Born and raised outside Houston, he gained early acclaim for his piercing introspection and absorbing narratives, but over the course of five solo albums, he flirted with everything from Paul Simon and John Prine to Elton John and Joni Mitchell in a series of sonic and visual transformations that ran the gamut from Redneck Steely Dan to Lone Star Liberace. NPR hailed his โmusical daring and impeccable songcraft,โ while Rolling Stone praised his โsharp eye for storytelling,โ and the New York Times lauded his writing as an emotional โgut punch.โ
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Yesterdayโs News marks Ellisโs debut LP for Niles City Records, an outgrowth of the famed Niles City Sound studio he and longtime collaborator Josh Block run in Fort Worth, TX.