/Ellis Paul to perform in Haliburton

Ellis Paul to perform in Haliburton

Ellis Paul will appear at the Northern Lights Performing Arts Pavilion on Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Some artists chronicle their lives through music while others chronicle the time they live in. Paul has a rare talent of being able to weave songs from his personal life experiences that not only define the people and the places but the era. His songs resonate with the audience and survive the test of time. Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan are major influencers of Paul’s music.

In an interview with Chris Kocher WHR radio host and journalist Paul states “I ran out of old girlfriends to write about and I stopped writing about childhood experiences because I exhausted that well – but the deeper that you go the more the songs become about all of us rather than just your personal life experiences.”

Ellis Paul is a gifted singer/songwriter but more than that he is a storyteller.

His lyrics reach out from inside and yet also express the feelings thoughts and sensibilities that most people can relate to in one way or another regardless of age or upbringing.

His songs are about the exhilaration of the open road. They celebrate heroes. They express a hope for redemption. They describe things that are both near and dear such as the sharing of love. They are intimate passionate and enduring.

He has won 15 Boston Music Awards his songs have appeared in major motion pictures and been covered by Grammy winners. He has created 19 albums each one focused on a different concept. He is an insatiable performer who does 200 shows per year. He has been entertaining for more than a quarter of a century resulting in performances from the Newport Folk Festival to Carnegie Hall.

Paul’s roots and current home are in small American towns. He currently lives in a small town in Maine.

He comes from humble origins. His family were potato farmers who could count among their forebears a veteran of the battle of Gettysburg whose heroism on that field of honour earned him the 140 acres of Maine farmland that his descendants would continue to sow.

It was the place that taught Paul the meaning of hard work and self-reliance and the values that accompany as much drive and determination as any individual could muster.

Don Gage treasurer of the Haliburton County Folk Society says that “Paul was introduced to me by Steve Poltz an amazing musician who had just played a house concert in our home. Upon hearing Ellis Paul play at the Folk Music Ontario Conference I just knew we had to get him up here.”

There’s likely no greater evidence of how Guthrie’s insights and humanity have rubbed off on Paul than in this particularly telling tribute from Woody Guthrie’s daughter Nora.

“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’!”

It’s no wonder then that recently Paul received ​a ​prestigious​ honour: an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the University of Maine which also asked him to ​write the school’s ​song a​s well as ​deliver its commencement address in May 2014.

Tickets for the concert series or individual concerts are available online at www.haliburtonfolk.com Halco Electronics/The Source in Haliburton and The Organic Times in Minden. For more information call 705-754-FOLK or visit www.haliburtonfolk.com.

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