Naked Truth

Blues guitar slinger, songwriter, and vocalist Tinsley Ellis has been recording under his own name for more than 40 years. Naked Truth, his 23rd album, is his first solo acoustic outing. Among its 12 tracks are nine newly composed originals and three covers, all recorded live in studio. Ellis’ (mostly) self-produced set employs only two instruments: A 1937 National Steel O series resonator guitar (or a 1969 Martin acoustic) and a stompbox. The Georgia musician’s acoustic mini-sets during live shows have long been popular. Naked Truth is the realization of Ellis long-held ambition to record an acoustic album. You’d be forgiven for thinking that opener and single “Devil in the Room” was recorded decades ago. Raw and propulsive, its wrangling three-chord slide cadence also features a pair of clapping hands and a pair of stomping boots on an overamplified stompbox. On “Windowpane,” a fingerpicked Martin fuels a slow, languid, minor-key blues. Ellis croons the lyric, which is sweet, spooky, and haunted, and seeks the marrow of the Delta tradition. Son House’s iconic “Death Letter Blues” is the first cover and the only tune here produced by Atlanta roots musician Eddie 9V. Ellis’ fat, resonant, crystal-clear baritone delivers the chilling lyrics like an Old Testament prophet accompanied by an unruly slide guitar and an overamped stompbox. “Silver Mountain” is a glorious strummed instrumental that Ellis renders as a fantasia on his Martin. Willie Dixon’s “Don’t Go No Further” is a strolling, acoustic blues boogie offered in the Chicago blues dialect, highlighted by a killer vocal. Leo Kottke’s "The Sailors Grave on the Prairie” is not strictly a blues, but it is a song Ellis has been playing for nearly 50 years, often in concert. He approaches it in the same distinctive American Primitive manner Kottke did. Ellis allows his phrasing and timing to slip and slide through percussive strumming, slide work, and fingerpicking, almost completely free of meter. “Tallahassee Blues” follows the basic structure of “Death Letter Blues,” but its biting guitar work and lack of the stompbox render it moodier and earthier. ”Hoochie Mama” sounds composed on the spot. A slow, nocturnal blues, Ellis meanders and explores the guitar strings while digging deep in his vocal. He renders the lyric with romantic tension. “Alcovy Breakdown” is another dazzling, hyper-strummed acoustic instrumental played passionately at breakneck tempo. “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades” is a slow, slide-fueled jam that could pass for a 30s-era Delta blues due to the world-weary timbre and tonality in Ellis’ singing voice. “Grown Ass Man” is a humorous shuffle in the Chicago style. Ellis’ syncopated handclaps add ballast and depth to his biting strums and vamps. Set-closer “Easter Song” is a brief, dramatic instrumental coda to a set that underscores Ellis’ continuing musical vitality. Naked Truth was a risky entry in the artist’s long career. He had faith that his fans would follow him, and they did. This album is such a high-water mark in Ellis’ catalog it will very likely stand the test of time alongside other blues classics. ~ Thom Jurek