The Back to Georgia Tour, a co-bill concert, featuring Tinsley Ellis and The Tommy Talton Band, comes to Springfield’s Mars Theatre on Dec. 6.
"We are thrilled to have two of Georgia's best guitarists on stage together for a night of blues, southern and country rock, Americana and soul," said Springfield director of cultural affairs Tommy Deadwyler.
Tommy Talton is one of the best songwriters and guitarists of our time. While in Macon through most of the 1970s, Talton was a studio musician recording with artists such as Bonnie Bramlett, Martin Mull, Corky Lang (West, Bruce and Lang, Mountain), Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Clarence Carter, country legend Kitty Wells, Alex and Livingston Taylor, Arthur Conley of Sweet Soul Music fame, and more.
Talton is the founding member of Capricorn Records group Cowboy, and also the guitarist on Gregg Allman's "Laid Back" album. Over the past several decades, Talton has toured extensively throughout the U.S. with Cowboy and with the Gregg Allman tour, and as a special guest at Carnegie Hall and Fillmore West in San Francisco, and most cities in between.
Talton has taken the Southern music scene by storm in recent years with a new band, a new determination, and exceptional new music. Talton's music showcases not only his classic slide and guitar work, but his distinctive vocals, and passionate songwriting. The band’s live performances appeals to all ages, as evidenced by the wide age range of audiences at its shows.
Southern blues-rocker and international blues musician Tinsley Ellis will join Talton on stage for this unforgettable night. Ellis sings and plays with the conviction of, as Billboard wrote, “...a man possessed.” Over the course of 11 albums and averaging over 150 live shows a year, Ellis has played in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. Ellis easily ranks as one of today’s most electrifying blues-rock guitarists and vocalists. He attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling – in the same tradition as his Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman and Freddie King and his old friends Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Atlanta Magazine declared Ellis “the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell.”
Ellis has shared stages with almost every major blues star, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins and many others. Whether he’s out with his own band or sharing stages with major artists like Buddy Guy, The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule or Widespread Panic, he always digs deep and plays, as Guitar Player says, “…as if his life depended on it.” Ellis brings his monumental guitar work and intensely powerful vocals to rock and blues fans all over the world, letting his songs and his guitar do the talking.
“Atlanta’s Tinsley Ellis sings like a man possessed and wields a ferocious lead guitar…one of today’s premier blues/rock players.” – Billboard
“Ellis’ music is a potent, amazing trip through electric blues-rock.” - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For tickets and more information, visit MarsTheatre.com. Tickets are $30. Show is at 8 p.m.
