Cafe Eleven

Ellis Paul

Friday - April 20th, 2007 - $12

Ellis Paul is one of the leading voices in America’s thriving singer-songwriter/ folk circuit. He was a principle leader in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, an urbane, literate folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s. His charismatic, personally authentic performance style has influenced a generation of artists away from the artifice of pop, and closer towards the realness of folk. Though he remains among the most pop-friendly of today’s singer-songwriters - his songs regularly appear in hit movie and TV soundtracks - he has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers.

Yet to hear him at this crossroads moment in his career, you would think he was just getting started. For years, he has been among the folk circuit’s most popular and dependable headliners, with a mailing list of over 20,000 fiercely loyal fans. He has released 11 CDs, and recently explored new media avenues with a documentary/concert DVD called “3,000 Miles,” and “Notes from the Road,” a critically acclaimed book of poems and stories.

Ellis Paul “Black Top Train”