He’s an American singer-songwriter who now resides in Virginia and has been cranking out provocative and romantic folk-style music since 1987. 18 albums to date is amazing and his easy going personality blended well in this very cozy and cool set-up inside the loop in H-Town.

Paul was joined this night by a little lady, Rebecca Loebe, and they meshed quite well together in the acoustic friendly outdoor venue. EP is a non-stop touring machine, playing up to 200 gigs a year, and he has carved out a national following from coffeehouses to radio airplay throughout the land.

Paul can make some facial contortions that are hard to explain, but most interesting when witnessed live. Some favorites from this show were “Like a Rose Tattoo”, sing-along fave “Kick Out the Lights”, “Empire State”,  and a tender remembrance of the passing of legend George Jones on “Jukebox On My Grave”.

Paul’s second children’s album, with title cut “The Hero in You”, was done in 2012 with the intention to educate the younger generation about the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Georgia O’Keeffe and Rosa Parks to name a few. Nice touch.

Another cool dedication was his classic “3000 Miles” to the late great Richie Havens. That song has been recently covered by pals of ours, Moors & McCumber, and in fact his songs have been included on more than 50 compilation CDs to date.  Remarkable indeed.

“Snow in Austin” reflected on actually seeing it snow in Texas and he delivered a sweet guitar style and bigger than life sound on “Chief Joseph”. The highlight from the duo was delivered on the Beatles cover of “Let It Be'”which blended well with the breezy comfort of this April evening!

Another cover ruled with Joni Mitchell’s “Circle Game” taking me back to riding merry-go-rounds and such. Few artists display the combination of being smart, literate and as poetic as Mr.Paul in my view. Ellis finished strong with “Alice’s Champagne Palace”, stirring and boistrous (without mike) “Annalee” and “The World Ain’t Slowin’ Down”.

Few artisits can mix breezy exhalation and high tone shouts, shifting at a drop of a hat, and enhance the imagery of the tales he’s spilling out to the audience.

My only nitpicks of tonight’s gig would be we’ve seen this dude three times in 16 months and he’s basically done the same exact show, albeit mixing the songs around. With an expansive catalog like his, it seems weird to confine himself to that kind of set list. Plus his reliance on sing-alongs (3 total) and doing one 3 songs in is a pet peeve of this reviewer for sure. Didn’t I come to see you sing, sir?

As always that’s just me and in no way lessens the total package of an Ellis Paul show. Go see for yourself next go around because he plays Anderson Fair and Mucky Duck quite often…

As far as the venue, this was our virgin visit and it kicks ass!  Jeff has a home that plays very well to 100-150 folks, which is amazing really. Never felt too crowded or uncomfortable and if you know me I’m no small lad.

Potluck was bad ass, everybody mingled and got along like they knew each other big time. BYOB and $15-20 cover charge was well worth it and he also has a “jam” session afterwards that goes deep into the night if you care to stay. 17 years he’s been supporting live music and HMR tips their collective hat to him! We WILL be back…God Bless and GO see some music will ya?!