Ellis Paul w/ special guest Jay Souza

Sunday October 6, 2013 @ 8:00 PM

Ellis Paul is a critically-acclaimed singer, songwriter, poet, and troubadour originally hailing from a potato farming family in northern Maine. He is the recipient of thirteen Boston Music Awards, second only to multi-platinum act, Aerosmith. Over the course of fifteen years, Ellis Paul has built a vast catalog of music which weds striking poetic imagery and philosophical introspection with hook-laden melodies.

The Boston Globe hailed him as a "songwriter's songwriter," saying "no emerging songwriter in recent memory has been more highly touted and respected by songwriters." USA Today's national feature on Ellis was titled, "Best Bet For Stardom" which has come true after years of non-stop touring. He opened for such notable musicians as Bill Morrissey, Shawn Colvin, and John Gorka early on and quickly progressed to headlining concerts and festivals.

Ellis has averaged 150 shows a year and travels across America and Europe, playing everyplace from church basements to Carnegie Hall. The Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame invited Ellis to pay tribute to his hero Woody Guthrie, who has influenced and inspired Ellis in a profound way. Woody's daughter Nora requested that Ellis compose the music for the lyrics of Woody's song "God's Promise" which was released and has been covered by numerous artists.

Ellis' songs have appeared in the soundtracks for several movies, including "Me, Myself, & Irene" with Jim Carrey, and "Shallow Hal" with Jack Black. Movie director Peter Farrelly has praised Ellis' music as "a national treasure." Ellis' songs have also appeared on numerous television shows, including "Ed" and MTV's "The Real World."

"Ellis Paul is a master storyteller. He combines the sensibilities of Bob Dylan and Bill Morrissey and delivers it with a passion that sets him apart in the company of a new breed of songwriters." Performing Songwriter Magazine

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Jay Souza has been carrying around those lonesome songs inside his heart since his mom — whose great-great-grandfather was first cousin to Irish poet William Butler Yeats — sent him a present of three cassettes that he played incessantly — Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and the Carpenters.

The Boston-born singer-songwriter, who has lived in L.A. since 1990, has exhibited qualities of all three in his music, first in his band 50 Cent Haircut, and now alongside the same musicians in Patrolled by Radar (guitarists Bosco Sheff and Bryan “BC” Coulter and bassist Bryan “Reno” Stone), with a timeless, narrative style that takes its cue from classic Americana roots: equal parts folk, rock, country, blues and soul. Their Knitting Factory debut, Be Happy, will sit comfortably in your collection alongside such contemporary acts as Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers.

Produced by Los Straitjackets member Peter Curry in his Culver City Powow Fun Room studio the old-fashioned way, with the veteran ensemble showing how years on the L.A. scene has solidified them as a band, Be Happy could well be termed songs for the New Depression, with songs like “Widow Next Door” and “Dressed for the Drought” telling stories that could have taken place at any point during the last two centuries, as sung by troubadours such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Ray Davies or Townes Van Zandt. Still others reflect the many tales Souza hears on his day job as a bartender or as a musician, including the Irish feel of “Carried Away,” written from the point of view of a soldier serving in the Middle East; the classic country lament “Coat of Disappointment,” about losing someone to illness; or “Fast Life Slow Death,” in which he tried to put himself in the head of his dying dad, who would never live to hear it. Elsewhere, Souza and Patrolled by Radar show themselves equally capable of creating the lush pop choruses of the Beatlesque title track, the slinky sexual double entendre rockabilly blues in “Walking&#8221 (“The first verse is about Adolf Hitler and the second, Johnny Cash,” he explains), the whimsical psychedelic folk of the Babar the Elephant-inspired “Pachyderm,” or even full throttle rock and roll, which comes across loud and clear in the anthemic (and aptly named) “New Fight Song.”

Links:

Tickets:

$20, $30