Ellis Paul
"The 20th Century Is Over"

Ellis Paul songs are finally available for free and legal downloads via mp3.com. Starting out as a phenom of the Boston scene, Ellis has become a favorite on the national folk circuit. Sporting a Woody Guthrie tatoo, he does share some of Guthrie's nomadic spirit and bravado. But he's a polished guitarist and a generally romantic, folk-pop writer with an instantly recognizable, plaintive high tenor voice. The stories he tells about down and out urban types share a lot with the character sketches of Slaid Cleaves. With his instantly recognizable voice and style, he has been on the road to success from the beginning. Recently, he had a song placed in the Jim Carey movie, "Me Myself and Irene." At least I think it was Irene....

This subdued, rap-like shuffle, reminiscent in some ways of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Light the Fire," marvels at the distance we traveled in the last century - including literally, from horse-drawn cart to Mars. Seems impossible, and makes him wonder "what if it never began/what if the entire 100 years was the work of a single man." Anyway, Ellis Paul is definitely a singer-songwriter to catch, and is especially spell-binding in performance. Keep an eye out for the shows he does with his buddy guitarist/songwriter Don Conoscenti.

The song is the third song down on the page:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/125/ellis_paul.html

Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com