Charlottesville, Virginia
45 Years Old
Singer-Songwriter, Songwriter, Melodist

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BIOGRAPHY

Ellis Paul is a critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, poet and troubadour originally hailing from a potato farming family in northern Maine. A track scholarship to Boston College and subsequent injury brought him into the fertile, competitive Boston songwriter scene.

Since launching from Boston, Ellis Paul has built a vast catalog of music which weds striking poetic imagery and philosophical introspection with hook-laden melodies.

The Boston Globe heralds 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 15 years of non-stop touring. He has shared the stage with such notable artists as John Mayer, Dar Williams, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and John Gorka early on and quickly progressed to headlining concerts and festivals.

Ellis averages 150 shows a year and travels across America and Europe, playing clubs, church basements to Carnegie Hall. The Rock and 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 to the lyrics of Woody’s song “God’s Promise” which he released and has been subsequently covered by numerous artists.

“One of contemporary folk music’s most influential voices”-- Dirty Linen Magazine

Ellis’ songs have appeared in the soundtracks for several movies, including “Me Myself & Irene” with Jim Carey and “Shallow Hal” with Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow. Movie director Peter Farrelly one half of the Farrelly Brother’s, has praised Ellis as “a national treasure.”

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

“Ellis’ precise unsentimental poetry mixes urban despair with fascination for details…a fine, subtle singer who can lift from a whisper to operatic highs. These songs seep into your memory like tea in hot water.”
-
The Austin Chronicle

"A singer songwriter is only as good as the times he reflects. In times like these, when so many nuts are running the show, it's comforting to know that Ellis Paul is actually holding our sanity on his own stage! Wise, tender, brilliant and biting, Ellis is one of our best human compasses, marking in melodies and poems where we've been and where we might go if we so choose to. Personally Ellis, I'm goin' where you're goin' "--Nora Guthrie (Woody Guthries Daughter)

LEVEL

professional

GENRES

Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Pop

PUBLISHING COMPANY

Ellis Paul Publishing, I own my own publishing

Contact

Management: Ralph Jaccodine Management 617-393-9800
Publishing: Ellis Paul Publishing 617-393-9800
Label: Black Wolf Records 617-393-9800
Music Supervisor: Ellis Paul 617-393-9800
Booking: Fleming Artists 734-995-9066
Administrative: Rachel Klein 617-393-9800

P.R.O.

SESAC

INSTRUMENTS

acoustic guitar

INFLUENCES

Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, R.E.M,Lenny Bruce, tom robbins, joni mitchell, norman rockwell, ohn prine, randy newman, hank williams, sebastian coe,U2, Bill Withers, Steve Goodman, bill rodgers, George Harrison, Shel Silverstein, Roy Rogers, Mark Twain, Tom Waits, Carol King, Harry Chapin, Bill Morrissey, patty larkin, John Gorka, Babe Ruth, Johnny Cash, charity, Robert Johnson, Tim Hardin, Mississippi John Hurt

DAY JOB

Song Writer/Musician

I AM INTERESTED IN

in pitching songs to artist
in pitching songs to tv
in getting a record deal
in getting a publishing deal

I WRITE:

For a living

I Also Write:
by myself
with others
for myself
for others

I Prefer To Write:
lyrics
melody
music

experience >

SONG CUTS

Sugarland- "Little Wood Guitar" Sugarland- "City of Silver Dreams"

SONG PLACEMENTS

2007 Guest appearance in Catching Salinger, a documentary film starring Frederic Beigbeder and directed by Jean-Marie Perier. 2006 Guest appearance on the Woody Guthrie Coalition’s DVD Woody Sez: a Tribute to Woody Guthrie (duet with The Burns Sisters on “God’s Promise” recorded July 13, 2005 at the Crystal Theater in Okemah, OK.) 2003 Ellis Paul’s 3000 Miles DVD released in February. 2002 The Nov. 5 episode of the TV series Ed features “If You Break Down”. 2001 The movie Shallow Hal starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black features “Sweet Mistakes”. 2000 The Farrelly Brothers’ movie Me, Myself & Irene starring Renee Zellweger and Jim Carrey features “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” as its theme song. 1999 MTV’s Real World features “Change,” “Deliver Me” and “Lay Your Wager Down”.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

2009 WUMB #2 Performer of the Year (Bob Dylan #1) 2009 14th Boston Music Award- Outstanding Folk 2008 Parents’ Choice Foundation Silver Medallion for Dragonfly Races. 2004 13th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Male Singer-Songwriter 2004 Recipient of the 2nd Annual Boston College Arts Council Alumni Award 2002 12th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer-Songwriter Album for Sweet Mistakes 2001 11th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Male Singer-Songwriter 2001 FolkWax E-Zine Artist of the Year 2000 Boston Citysearch Editor’s Award for Best Local Songwriter 1999 10th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Male Vocalist – Indie Label 1999 9th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer/Songwriter for “Take Me Down” 1999 8th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Acoustic Folk Album for Translucent Soul 1997 7th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Contemporary Folk Act 1996 SESAC Contemporary Folk Award for A Carnival of Voices 1996 6th Boston Music Award for Rising Star 1996 5th Boston Music Award for Outstanding Contemporary Folk Act 1996 USA Today’s Best Bet for Stardom (July 12) 1995 4th Boston Music Award for Folk/Acoustic Album of the Year for Stories 1995 3rd Boston Music Award for Outstanding Local Male Vocalist 1994 Voted one of the Most Wanted at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 1994 Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award 1993 2nd Boston Music Award for Outstanding Song of the Year – Indie Label for “Conversation With a Ghost” 1992 1st Boston Music Award for Outstanding New Folk/Acoustic Act 1991 Boston Acoustic Underground Award

OTHER SONG OR ALBUM CREDITS

Discography: Compilation CDs 2008 Live & Direct, Vol. 10: Studio Performances from WYEP 91.3FM-CD; “Jukebox on My Grave” 2005 MVY Radio Fresh Produce 1 MVY Radio; “Blacktop Train” 2005 Best of The Mansion, Vol. 1 Friends of Music; “Jukebox on My Grave” 2005 Notes of Hope: A Benefit for Brian and Alex “If You Break Down” 2004 Keeping Music in Mind (Alzheimer’s Association benefit) Rounder Records; “Comfort You” with Vance Gilbert 2004 Greetings from Area Code 207 WCLZ; “Maria’s Beautiful Mess” 2004 Best of 5 Live Kennebunk Coffeehouse; “The Only Way” with Vance Gilbert 2004 Odds and Ends: Ten Years of Crash on the Levee WFDU; “Sweet Mistakes” 2003 We Are Each Others’ Angels Hungry for Music; “Angel in Manhattan” 2003 KGSR Broadcasts, Vol. 11 KGSR; with the Ribbon of Highway players on “This Train” 2003 Best of the Kerrville Folk Festival, Vol. 1 Silverwolf Records; “Paperback Man” 2003 Songmania: More Songs About Love and Despair “All My Heroes Were Junkies” 2002 CityFolk V WFUV; “Sweet Mistakes” 2002 Progressions #68: The Triple A Sampler FMQB; “Sweet Mistakes” 2002 Before Their Time, Vol. II “Conversation With a Ghost” 2002 The Singer Songwriter Collection Rounder; “Weightless” 2002 Fresh Picked: Live on Folk Salad Folk Salad Records; “Speed of Trees” 2001 Shallow Hal soundtrack Island, “Sweet Mistakes” 2001 New Music Made in New England Rounder YM1; “Take Me Down” 2000 Live at the Night – 90.5 the Night, Vol. 1 WBJB; “Maria’s Beautiful Mess” 2000 Progressions #52: New Music for Progressive Adult Radio KFMU; “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” 2000 WERS Live from Emerson College Emerson Records; “All Things Being the Same” (listed incorrectly as being “Look at the Wind Blow”) 2000 Massachusetts For Folk WUMB; “Conversation With a Ghost” 2000 WDIY Studio Sessions, Vol. 1 Bummer Tent; “Conversation With a Ghost” 2000 Me, Myself & Irene soundtrack Elektra; “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” 2000 Rounder March 2000 New Release Sampler Rounder; “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” and “Conversation With a Ghost” 2000 All Folked Up: A Rounder Sampler (Vol. 1) Rounder; “Martyr’s Lounge” 1999 New Music Series Review, Vol. 19 First Media Communications; “Take Me Down” 1999 Out of the Mouths of Men Susan Tegeler and Brightspot Studios; spoken word CD that includes Ellis Paul doing a reading of “Love’s Too Familiar a Word” 1999 The Revolution Spreads Fast Company; “Angel in Manhattan” 1999 Live & Direct, Vol. 1: Studio Performances from WYEP 91.3FM-CD; “She Loves a Girl” 1999 Crowd Around the Mic: Live on WNCW, Vol. 3 WNCW; “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” 1999 Touring Troubadours: 19 Tracks from the Hardest Working Artists in the Business! Rounder; “Take Me Down” and “Translucent Soul” 1999 Have a Heart: A Benefit for Uncle Mark Reynolds Oasis CDs; “Just Like Jim Brown” with Don Conoscenti 1999 Chris Chandler’s Collaborations Prime-CD; “Never Lived at All” 1999 Folk Radio Voices II WUMB; “Saturday 2:15” 1997 This is Boston, Not Austin, Vol. 2 Black Wolf; “Did I Ever Know You” and poem “Love’s Too Familiar a Word” 1997 Live at the Iron Horse Signature Sounds; “Weightless” 1997 The Independent Acoustic Group Compilation IAG; “Conversation With a Ghost” 1995 New Country Cornell Communications; “All Things Being the Same” 1995 Where Love Goes CD to accompany the novel by Joyce Maynard; “Last Call” 1995 This is Boston, Not Austin, Vol. 1 Black Wolf; “Paperback Man” 1995 Performing Songwriter, Vol. 2 Performing Songwriter; “Last Call” 1995 Live at the Postcrypt Prime-CD; “All Things Being the Same” 1995 Kerrville Folk Festival 1995 Highlights Silverwolf; “Paperback Man” 1994 The Times They Are a Changin’: A Tribute to Bob Dylan Sister Ruby; “All Along the Watchtower” 1994 Shelter: The Best of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters Putamayo World Music; “Last at the Table” 1994 Follow That Road: Highlights of the Second Annual Martha’s Vineyard Singer-Songwriters’ Retreat Held at the Wintertide Coffeehouse Rounder; “King of 7th Avenue” 1993 Leak Magazine, Winter 1994 Leak; “Look at the Wind Blow” 1993 Old Vienna Tapes, Vol. 2 Fast Folk Musical Magazine; “Conversation With a Ghost” 1992 Legacy II: A Collection of Singer-Songwriters Windham Hill Records; “Ashes to Dust” 1990 End Construction’s Resume Speed End Construction Productions; “New Light on Your Halo”, Just the Jester Fool”, “Friday Night” and “This Old Car” Discography: Guest Appearance CDs 2008 Robbie Schaefer/Strange and Lovely World 2007 Flynn/The Answer’s Not Enough (Black Wolf Records) 2006 Antje Duvekot/Big Dream Boulevard (Black Wolf Records) 2005 Flynn/An American Wake (Black Wolf Records) 2004 Kort & Beth McCumber/Until I Return (Somewhere To Go Music) 2002 Joel Raphael/Woodeye (Inside Recordings) 2002 Vance Gilbert/One to Fourteen (Louisiana Red Hot Records) 2002 Carl Cacho/Spark (Back Holler Music) 2002 Alastair Moock/A Life I Never Had (Bad Moock Rising Records) 2002 Justin Brooks/Take to the Wind (Mt. Tom Productions) 2001 Darryl Purpose/A Crooked Line (Tangible Music) 2001 Kevin So/That Oriental Guy 2001 Don Conoscenti/Paradox of Grace (Cogtone) 2001 Lori McKenna/Pieces of Me (GUA Music) 2000 Dave Nachmanoff/A Certain Distance 2000 Adam Dorfman/The Difference (Psycho Poets Records) 2000 David Wilcox/What You Whispered (Vanguard) 2000 Bernice Lewis/Religion and Release (Sanctuary Records) 2000 Christopher Williams/The Silence in Between 2000 Vance Gilbert/Live (Disismye) 1999 John Wesley Harding/Dynablob 3 (WOW) 1999 Darryl Purpose/Traveler’s Code (Tangible Music) 1999 Rob Laurens/The Honey on the Mountain (Attic Light; also produced by Ellis Paul) 1998 Carl Cacho/Blue Around the Edges 1998 Buddy Mondlock/Poetic Justice (Major Bob Productions) 1997 Peter Spink/All There Is (In the News Records) 1997 Mark Erelli/Long Way From Heaven 1996 Matthew’s Brother/Remember the Day 1996 Don Conoscenti/Boxes of Bones (Cogtone, uncredited track) 1995 Kevin McClusky/This Distant Light (Waterboat Music) 1995 Jim Henry/Jacksonville (Signature Sounds) 1995 Rob Lytle/Rob Lytle 1994 Billy Pilgrim/Billy Pilgrim (Atlantic) 1994 Vance Gilbert/Edgewise (Rounder) 1994 Don Conoscenti/Beneath Your Moon (Cogtone) 1994 Jon Svetkey/Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (End Construction) 1993 Don Conoscenti/The Code (Cogtone) 1992 Chris Chandler/As Seen On No TV (Flying Fish) 1992 Bill Morrissey/Inside (Philo/Rounder) 1992 Billy Pilgrim/Words Like Numbers (Sister Ruby Records; reissued by Honest Harry Records in 1995) 1992 Jon Svetkey/This is Now

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Cadillac Sky

Cadillac Sky should be a lot more tired. It’s early Saturday afternoon at MerleFest and the band–Bryan Simpson, Matt Menefree, Andrew Moritz, Ross Holmes and newest addition David Mayfield–has already logged two performances on the day....

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Sessions: David Bazan

It was pretty slow. I mean, I played [the songs] on acoustic guitar for a long time, but I didn’t know how to transfer them to the other format. I didn’t want it to be a solo acoustic record. I wanted there to be bells and whistles and full band arrangements even if I didn’t want it necessarily to be electric guitar rock....

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Sessions: Vetiver

“It’s always slightly confounding to me whenever Vetiver is depicted with the same tropes that people have read off of press sheets,” says Andy Cabic. “The same sort of milestones get mentioned but then no one really digs to find out that there are those other things going on.”

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Behind The Song: “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell sang, it has been remarked, like lovers, although they weren’t. Similarly, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the team behind one of Marvin and Tammi’s most enduring hits, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” wrote as if under the influence of amatory forces; even if, in the spring of 1968,