First posted on Mark Is Cranky:

Tonight is a great night for us folk music lovers in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire as Ellis Paul is playing at the Peterborough Players Theatre.

Me & the wife are huge fans of Paul. I discoved him several years back on during one of my morning drives. I used to listen to "The Coffeehouse" on Emerson College radio station WERS. One morning they played a spoken word piece from a folk compilation called This Is Boston, Not Austin Part 2.

I was hooked. Though their styles are completely different, I rate Ellis Paul right up there with Greg Brown and Richard Shindell, two other 'kings' of modern folk music.

Ah, and here's a funny story. During my initial listen-to-an-Ellis-CD-once-a-day phase, I asked a good friend of mine (a guy I used to live with and have known since my college years) if he'd ever heard of Paul. Yes, he had. In fact, he used to go to high schol with him. Woa! Small world, eh?

If you've never heard him before, the live album is a great place to start. Many of his own syles are represented including the story song, the spoken word riff and guitar instumentals.

Hibbing, Minnestoa gave us Bob Dylan...Presque Isle, Maine gave us Ellis Paul.