Tinsley Ellis, Moment of Truth

Tinsley Ellis often draws comparisons to blues and rock guitar legends like Freddie King and Warren Haynes, but when I listen to his heavy-lidded blues-rock I can't help thinking of Jimi Hendrix and his disciple Stevie Ray Vaughn. I think it's a combination of the unflashy singing and the stripped-down guitar-bass-drums attack.

Yes, there are some keyboards on Ellis's new CD, but they're for decoration. The album is first and foremost about great guitar playing, and only secondarily about the songs, which are solid and structurally straightforward. This is rock-hard no-excuses Southern blues going strong in the new century.

Moment of Truth is the second release of the Atlanta bluesman's second tenure with Alligator Records. The label's Bruce Iglauer summed it up when he first heard Ellis's music in the late 1980s: "It had the power of rock but felt like the blues." Ellis's playing has become a little more spare over the years but, if anything, gained a feeling of easy fluidity.

That's especially evident in some of the new CD's slower tunes, like "You're Gonna Thank Me" and the gloomy, minor-key "Too Much of Everything." But even when he brings out the pyrotechnics, as in "Bringin' Home the Bacon," Ellis makes it sound easy. Using the standard blues guitar palette he seems to always manage to have something a little bit new to say with each solo. Like all the best blues guitarists, he gives his instrument a real speaking voice.

Highly recommended for blues and rock-guitar fans, and a good introduction to Tinsley Ellis for those new to his music.

The Alternate Routes, Good and Reckless and True

I first heard the Alternate Routes when one of their songs appeared on a compilation CD with one of mine. The song, "Ordinary," stopped me on my tracks - I hadn't heard such a good pop song in a while.

Naturally, when I received the Alternate Routes CD I was worried that the rest of the songs wouldn't measure up. But it turns out to be a very good CD. "Ordinary," with its memorable, soaring melody and lyrics, screams "first single" to my ears, but the band is more than one great track. Bursts of power-pop ("Who Cares?", "Time is a Runaway") mingle with sophisticated Sting-like ballads ("Hollywood", "The Black and the White") and high octane rockers ("Going Home With You," "Are You Lonely?"). Tying them together are Tim Warren's clear, bright tenor - like Sting's voice without the rasp - and the band's ability to fuse affecting melodies with his graceful lyrics.