Tinsley Ellis 'Tough Love Tour' comes to Elgin in March
Southern blues-rocker Tinsley Ellis may speak no evil, but he sings and plays with the conviction of, as Billboard wrote, " … a man possessed." Over the course of 11 albums and literally thousands of live performances, Ellis easily ranks as one of today's most electrifying blues-rock guitarists and vocalists.
The Tinsley Ellis "Tough Love Tour" comes to the Hemmens Cultural Center in downtown Elgin on Saturday, March 21. Presented by the Grafton Blues Association, Ellis will bring the soulfulness and expressiveness of his guitar playing to music that is gentle and melodic as well as to rip-roaring songs that are both poignant and humorous.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. with opener Frank Bang and the Secret Stash.
Tickets are $40 Golden Circle and $25 main floor. Group and student discounts available.
Tickets are on sale now at the box office, online at www.hemmens.org, or by phone at (847) 931-5900.
The Hemmens Cultural Center, located at the corner of Symphony Way and North Grove Avenue in Elgin, is easily accessible from I-90. Driving directions are available at www.hemmens.org. Parking is free.
Tinsley Ellis wears his Southern roots proudly. Born in Atlanta in 1957, he grew up in southern Florida and first played guitar at age 8. Already an accomplished teenage musician, Ellis left Florida for Atlanta and joined the Alley Cats, a gritty blues band that included Preston Hubbard of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame. In 1981, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta's top-drawing blues band. Ready to go out on his own, Tinsley's first album "Georgia Blue" was released in 1988. "It's hard to overstate the raw power of his music," raved the Chicago Sun-Times. Many albums and great reviews followed. His largest audience by far came when NBC Sports ran a feature on Atlanta's best blues guitarist during their 1996 Summer Olympic coverage, viewed by millions of people all over the world. Ellis has shared the stage with almost every major blues star, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor and many others. To learn more about Tinsley Ellis, go to www.tinsleyellis.com.