ArtistInfo

Tony Ellis

bj, vn, US
Musician of Country

American bluegrass banjo player, also bass & guitar. Born in the village of Silva, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. His grandmother, who played both clawhammer and 2-finger banjo, was his first, and biggest, influence, although he also developed an early appreciation for the trumpeter Bobby Hackett, and played trumpet through junior high school. But when Tony heard a radio broadcast of Flatt & Scruggs in 1952, he bought a resonator banjo and took up 3-finger picking, studying with Swanson Walker, and later with Don Reno. Tony joined Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys in 1960 (after Curtis McPeake, and before Del McCoury), and recorded 22 tracks with the band. In 1962 Ellis performed with Mac Wiseman at Carnegie Hall. He left full-time performing shortly afterwards, but continued to develop, performing old-timey music with Dr. Bruce Mongle, George Pegram, and Tommy Jarrell. His first album, “Dixie Banner,” was released in 1987, and was named “Best Old Time Record of 1988” by County Sales, and “One of the top twenty recordings of l988” by NPR. Tony’s second recording, “Farewell My Home” was recommended as “One of the top ten recordings of 1993” by the Washington Post. In 2000 Tony released “Sounds Like Bluegrass To Me,” a collection of traditional bluegrass selections. Tony has received numerous awards from ASCAP, and was featured during a National Masters of the Banjo tour in 1994. His compositions have been used by Ken Burns in several documentaries, on the British BBC documentary Echoes of America, on the TV series Party of Five, on SpongeBob, as well as other theater and film productions. Tony Ellis & the Musicians of Braeburn—Tony on fiddle and banjo; his son, William Lee Ellis, on guitar; Tony’s wife Louise Adkins on pump organ, and Larry Nager on bass, mandolin and washboard—have toured Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Central America, the U.K., Cuba, and Belarus. Tony played on the David Letterman Show and The New Yorker Festival program as a guest of Steve Martin in 2005. Tony was the 2003 inaugural recipient of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship for Performing Arts, and has been nominated for a National Heritage Fellowship Award. (From an Interview with Comedian Steve Martin) (https://banjonews.com/2011-07/tony_ellis_interview.html)

Instruments

• Banjo
• Violin
• Guitar
• Bass
• Vocals

Genres

• Country
• World
• Folk

Plays With