Robert Ellis Aims for The Big Time (And Shares a New Song)

As reported by the {29-95.com} folks back around the start of the year, local songwriter, multi-band-playing ninja, and all-’round old-time country boy {Robert Ellis} signed a little while ago with awesome New West Records (which, incidentally, is releasing that Tom Morello/Nightwatchman album I mentioned yesterday), joining fellow badass local folks {Buxton} and {The Wild Moccasins} on the ultra-cred-havin’ label.

Well, now Ellis is making some major waves, including showing up in American Songwriter and — while I can’t find the damn link right now — the freaking New York Times. Holy crap, man; virtual high-five from over here, sir…

Anyway, now he’s announced that his new album, Photographs, will be out this coming July 5th — it sounds pretty great, and as a pre-release teaser, Ellis & the New West people have made one of the new tracks, “What’s In It For Me,” available via SoundCloud:

Robert Ellis – What’s In It For Me by NewWestRecords

(According to David over at {Houston Calling}, btw, you can also check out the track on Robert’s Facebook page.)

Personally, I’m loving the song; it’s about as old-school country as you can possibly get, flushing all that prefab faux-cowboy crap that gets passed off as “country” every year at the Rodeo in favor of a gently bitter, tears-in-your-beer waltz (I think?) that’s personal and painful as all hell. Think George Jones, Hank Williams, and Flatt & Scruggs, and you’ll be in the ballpark.

Ellis heads out on tour tonight, although not from here in H-town — he’ll be kicking off the new tour out in El Paso (gah) and heading westward from there. The July leg of the tour will include a bunch of dates with Old 97’s, to boot, which makes things even cooler. Here’re the dates:

Fri, May 20 – El Paso, TX – Lowbrow
Sun, May 22 – Joshua Tree, CA – Pappy and Harriets
Mon, May 23 – Hermosa Beach, CA – Country Mondays at Saint Rocke
Tue, May 24 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
Wed, May 25 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place
Sun, May 29 – San Francisco, CA – Hotel Utah
Tue, May 31 – Denver, CO – The Hi-Dive
Fri, June 3 – Ft. Worth, TX – Lola’s Saloon Sixth
Sun, June 5 – Houston, TX – Free Press Summerfest 1pm
Sun, June 26 -Sat, July 2- Portland, OR – McMenamins Crystal Hotel [Portland Residency – Robert Ellis solo]
Tue, July 5 – Austin, TX – Cactus Café
Wed, July 6 – Houston, TX – Fitzgeralds
Fri, July 8 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge *
Sat, July 9 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge *
Mon, July 11 – Baltimore, MD – Ramshead Live*
Tue, July 12 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony *
Wed, July 13 – Brooklyn, NY – Bell House*
Thu, July 14 – Brooklyn, NY – Bell House*
Fri, July 15 – Wellfleet, MA – Beachcomber*
Mon, July 18 – Chicago, IL -Lincoln Hall*
Tue, July 19 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall *
Wed, July 20 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue*
Thu, July 21 – Kansas City, MO – Crossroads *
Fri, July 22 – Oklahoma City, OK – ACM @ UCO*
Sat, July 23 – Denton, TX – Dan’s Silverleaf

* with Old 97’s

If you haven’t ever gotten to check the guy out, trust me on this: do it now. Seriously. Robert Ellis is somebody you’re going to be hearing a lot about further on down the road.