3rd Stimulus Show

Four GREAT Nights of the Blues

Headlining Show #3 is

Friday, June 19th
6 to 10pm
Tickets ONLY $15!!
~For Members~
That's $5 off our regular show pricing!
It's like getting the first couple of beers on us!
Non-Member price: $20

�In the last five years, no one has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta's Tinsley Ellis, and his latest project once again validates his status. Ellis produced the disc, penned nine of the 11 tunes, sings like a man possessed and wields a mean lead guitar from start to finish. His sidemen are in the pocket, his original material is solid, and Ellis' performance shows sublime confidence and grit: Check his guitar work on the midtempo "Freeway Soul." In a more ferocious vein, both "Somebody" and his cover of "I Take What I Want" find Ellis and guitar in suborbital mode.�...Philip Van Vleck, Billboard.com

Dazzling musicianship...exhilarating rock and blues passion...his guitar steps front and center, crying and singing a raucous blues" "
- LOS ANGELES TIMES

"A Southern blues-rocker with monstrous guitar chops�feral, incendiary and fiery"- GUITAR ONE

Hard-rocking blues-soaked guitarist/vocalist/song-writer Tinsley Ellis sings and plays with the energy and soul of all the great Southern musicians who have come before him. Ellis attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling, following in the tradition of Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman, Freddie King, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. His live shows feature extended fretwork filled with melodic and rhythmic experimentation, in the spirit of jam bands like his friends Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers. Atlanta Magazine declared Ellis "the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell."
Since first hitting the national scene with his Alligator Records debut, GEORGIA BLUE, in 1988, Ellis has toured non-stop and continued to release one critically acclaimed album after another. His stellar guitar work, always a staple of his live shows and CDs, is matched by his strong songwriting and powerful, soulful vocals. Tinsley's hometown paper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, calls his music, "a potent, amazing trip through electric blues-rock."

Ellis made five critically acclaimed albums for Alligator between 1988 and 1997 before recording for the Capricorn and Telarc labels. His high-energy LIVE-HIGHWAYMAN, the long-awaited live album his fans have been demanding for years, marked his return to Alligator records. "Tinsley is one of the finest younger generation blues rockers. He's made great albums for us in the past, and we're excited to have him back in the Alligator family. He's great in the studio, but even better live, so I'm really excited about this recording," said Iglauer.

Ellis' latest release on Alligator, MOMENT OF TRUTH, captures all the power and energy of his legendary live performances. His vocals reach new heights of soulfulness and expressiveness; his guitar playing is ferocious and relentless, but, when the mood calls for it, gentle and moving. What really sets the album apart, though, is the depth of Ellis� songwriting. The material deals in matters both personal and universal and runs the gamut of human emotions. MOMENT OF TRUTH is Ellis� most wide-ranging and inspired recording.

Born in Atlanta in 1957, Ellis grew up in southern Florida and first played guitar at age eight. He found the blues through the backdoor of the British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, and The Rolling Stones. He especially loved the Kings--Freddie, B.B. and Albert--and spent hours immersing himself in their music. His love for the blues solidified when he was 14. At a B.B. King performance, Tinsley sat mesmerized in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. After the show, B.B. came out and talked with fans, further impressing Tinsley with his warmth and down-to-earth attitude. By now Tinsley's fate was sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. And yes, he still has that string.

Already an accomplished teenaged musician, Ellis left Florida and returned to Atlanta in 1975. He soon joined the Alley Cats, a gritty blues band that included Preston Hubbard (of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame). In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta's top-drawing blues band. Upon hearing LIVE AT THE MOONSHADOW (Landslide), the band's second release, The Washington Post declared, "Tinsley Ellis is a legitimate guitar hero." After cutting two more Heartfixers albums for Landslide, COOL ON IT (featuring Tinsley's vocal debut) and TORE UP (with vocals by blues shouter Nappy Brown), Ellis was ready to head out on his own. Ellis sent a copy of the master tape for his solo debut to Bruce Iglauer at Alligator Records. "I had heard COOL ON IT," recalls Iglauer, "and I was amazed. I hadn't heard Tinsley before, but he played like the guys with huge international reputations. It wasn't just his raw power; it was his taste and maturity that got to me. It had the power of rock but felt like the blues. I knew I wanted to hear more of this guy."

Ellis has played in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. Whether he's out with his own band or sharing stages with The Allman Brothers, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor or Widespread Panic, he averages over 150 performances a year, bringing his fast-moving, high-energy, guitar-drenched performances to fans all over the world. Live, there's simply no one better at igniting a crowd, jamming with focus and purpose...

The Members of
61 North
are...

Brian LaPan

Ryan "Gooch" Nelson

Bob Comfort

Joe Bross

Opening the Show,

and new to DSBS audiences, is

61 North is an inspirational, high-energy band blending new and old with a sound that fuses blues, rock, jazz, funk, and progressive music. The band prides itself in an ever-growing arsenal of potent original songs that electrify listeners. 61 North is a band to experience � its tasteful improvisation, exceptional musicianship and powerful stage presence make 61 North an incredible live phenomenon and a must see.

With the 2009 release of its debut record On the Road, 61 North has already firmly established itself as an up-and-comer by garnering accolades and awards from radio stations and live audiences up and down the East Coast. The band has catapulted itself into the headlines and airwaves and will be featured throughout the year across the country in live performances at music festivals and arenas ranging from the intimate to the immense.

In October 2009, the band will produce the second annual 61 North Benefit Concert, a benefit established by the group to increase awareness, fund research, and provide financial assistance to individuals across the country with spinal cord injuries. The corporate foundations funded by the first annual 61 North Benefit Concert include Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, The Jefferson Health System, and the Adam Taliaferro Foundation, founded by Penn State Alumnus and Humanitarian of the Year award recipient Adam Taliaferro, who suffered a debilitating spinal injury while playing football for Penn State University.

Spinal cord injury is a cause close to the heart of 61 North. In 2004, guitarist Ryan �Gooch� Nelson was in a devastating car crash, injuring his spine and leaving him a c-7 quadriplegic. For Gooch, an accomplished guitarist before the accident, the outlook was bleak -- after spending over six months in the hospital, Gooch�s life was irrevocably transformed. He had lost the ability to live life as he had before � including playing music�. or so he thought.

Two years after the accident, Gooch's grandfather bought him an electric guitar to play slide, a style previously foreign to him. With paralysis of his hands, Gooch naturally developed a unique slide technique using a custom-made hand-blown thumb slide on the left hand and thumb pick on the right playing his cherished Les Paul. Brian LaPann, childhood friend and then burgeoning music student at the University of Delaware, rekindled his relationship with Gooch, as he helped to teach him to play blues standards and original songs. Gooch�s new world began to unfurl.

Brian and Gooch�s collaboration began with a focus on blues music as the soul of their originally composed songs. As Brian�s intense blues infused, rock n� roll driven guitar work and vocals were refined, Gooch began to forge his technique, drawing from the rhythmic acoustic focus of his past to create memorable slide riffs and melodies. 61 North�s addition of bassist Bob Comfort and drummer Joe Bross complete the balance of the band, by bringing a powerful rhythm, funk and soul backbone to its hard-driven blues and rock sound. Thus was born a collaboration that morphed into 61 North, drawing its name from the legendary and mystical highway through the rhythm and blues heartland, which has been inspirational to innumerable pillars and icons of blues and rock music.

61 North has given its band members an opportunity to develop an identity built on a solid foundation of original and soulfully-felt grooves. Bob Comfort and Brian LaPann�s higher education music backgrounds add subtle sophistication to the visceral appeal of 61 North�s edginess, along with Joe Bross� cement-mixing beats. 61 North has found its voice in these four talented musicians. The diverse musical expertise that each bring to the stage make enjoying them live, or in the studio, truly an inspirational experience for every listener.

Get in on the Fun this Spring!!