Robert Ellis Changes His Tune

Robert Ellis sounds weary. On his latest record, Yesterday's News, the "Texas Piano Man" has shelved the shiny, glittering piano-driven production of his past albums for an open-tuned acoustic guitar and enough somber self-reflection to make you want to reach for something stronger than a Topo Chico.   

"If heaven feels like standing still, I'd rather go to hell / we are running from the silence at the bottom of the well," he sings on the arid "On The Run." And when he continues: "Running from becoming another book upon the shelf. / We are running from each other. We are running from ourselves," you quickly realize the dance party is over — at least for the next 39 minutes.

The album's clear standout is the title track, a stripped-down and spellbinding travelogue of a road weary troubador who sees the water circling the drain from a hotel shower.

 In another set of hands, these sentiments could easily slide into triteness or cliche, but Ellis has always had a knack for finding the beauty in the bleak. 

 

Yesterday's News, recorded live-to-tape in just two days, is an intimate reflection of an artist coming to grips with maturity and mortality, an intimate display that the show goes on after the disco lights burn out. But it's not epitaph, more of an evolution, and Ellis's continued growth makes him an artist well-worth following, wherever he decides to run to next.

Upcoming tour dates:

Fri, OCT 18
Askew Bistro & Entertainment Venue
Providence, RI
Tickets

Sat, OCT 19
Turning Point
Piermont, NY
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Sun, OCT 20
Jammin Java
Vienna, VA
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Mon, OCT 21
The State Theatre
State College, PA 
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Fri, NOV 1
Sam's Burger Joint
San Antonio, TX
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Sat, NOV 2
The Globe Theatre
Bertram, TX
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Sun, NOV 3
Fort Brewery & Pizza
Fort Worth, TX
 Tickets

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Sat, DEC 7
Space
Evanston, IL
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Sun, DEC 8
Space
Evanston, IL
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Sat, JAN 25, 2025
Mercury Lounge
Tulsa, OK
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Tue, JAN 28, 2025
The Bur Oak
Madison, WI
 Tickets