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Tinsley Ellis. Photos by Jill Fisher.

This past week I got to see two great shows at the West Theatre – bluesman Tinsley Ellis on Tuesday, March 12, and the Scottish rock-Celtic group, Skerryvore, the following evening, March 13. (I skipped Mallrats present MTV Unplugged on the 14th.) In addition music at UMD and multiple St. Patrick’s Day gigs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday filled my personal calendar.

Local guitarist and member of the Babie Eyes band, Ian Alexy, opened for Tinsley Ellis. It was only the second time I saw local musicians opening for national acts at the West, which provide excellent exposure for them. Ian played all original tunes except for one, “Personal Jesus,” recorded by Johnny Cash with guitarist John Frusciante but written by the English electronic music band, Depeche Mode. Four of the songs he played are on Ian’s 2021 CD Troubadour 21^st Century – “Teardrops In the Rain,” “Making It Shine,” “1994” and the title track. But he began with a newer composition ,“Shivers Up The Spine,” the lyrics of which did sort of induce that reaction.

Other more recent songs he performed were “Down The Line” with something like talkin’ blues and “Move Like Water” that demonstrated his mastery of the guitar. 

Ian will be performing steadily at local venues the next few weeks, including during Duluth Homegrown on April 30.

Ellis, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and whose music is categorized as blues rock, is on a nationwide tour for his recently released Naked Truth album. His first number was “Don’t Go No Further” from that album, the 21^st he’s released in his decades-long career. From the get-go, his gruff and gritty voice clued us into his authentic blues repertoire. 

His second number was, “28 Days” from his 2022 Devil May Care album. Although he didn’t play every tune on Naked Truth he got to “Devil In The Room,” “Tallahassee Blues” and “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.” Enough for me to purchase the album on CD (although a vinyl LP was available). I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it.

Ellis switched from acoustic guitar to his 1939 National Steel (resonator) guitar played with a slide for several numbers. In addition to his original work, Ellis performed “The Red Rooster” by Howlin’ Wolf, a beautiful medley of tunes in remembrance of David Crosby who died early last year and “Death Letter Blues” by Son House. 

And as a special treat for us Duluthians, he sang a very nice rendition of Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away.”
One of the fun aspects of this show by this seasoned performer were the stories he told, such as botching a song by one of his heroes, Minnesota-native Leo Kottke, at one of his early concerts at which Kottke was in the audience. Ellis said he would play that same instrumental so as to redeem his faux pas, which he surely did. 

He was gratified when his reference to Raymond Burr brought a knowing response from the audience. Ellis also recalled playing at Bev’s Jook Joint in Superior, Wis., years ago, which also got hoots in response. 

This veteran musician, with his Southern-nuanced blues and rock songs, expressed his appreciation for folks coming out to see him so soon after having played here just last year together with Marcia Ball. Based on what I saw on this evening, I’m sorry I missed that concert.

Skerryvore

Back-to-back with the Tinsley Ellis concert at the West was a fitting kick-off to this past week’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities – Skerryvore. This despite the fact the band is made up of a bunch of Scots based in Glasgow. The  bagpipes, whistles and fiddles of traditional Scottish ditties are also features of Irish tunes, of which there were a few.

Eight musicians make up the band—Alec Dalglish (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars), Daniel Gillespie (accordion), Martin Gillespie (accordion, bagpipe, whistles), Craig Espie (fiddle), Scott Wood (bagpipe, whistles), Alan Scobie (keyboards), Jodie Bremaneson (bass guitar) and Fraser West (drums, percussion). 

Only one of them wore a kilt (not enough!) And there were no bare chests as shown in advertisements for the show either – too bad because they were obviously very buff dudes. 

All were bare-headed though, not a one wore a hat.

The band has released seven studio albums to date, the latest being Tempus, released in 2023 and from which they played eight of the 12 tracks. After the entrance and instrumental intro, “Vancouver Island” was the first number off that album, which was a lively, traditional-sounding number with bagpipes. The rest of the tunes played during the first set were from earlier albums – World of Chances (2012), Evo (2018) and Live Across Scotland (2020). “End of the Line” from the latter was a beautiful ballad sung by Alec on guitar with just drums and keyboard accompaniment. 

This was a short set of seven songs taking about 40 minutes.

After an intermission, the second set began with a keyboard instrumental as the rest of the band members filtered onto the stage one by one then breaking into “Good Times Never Die” from Tempus. This was followed by “Your Love” with something of a Europop sound, also from that album. 
Next was a fast and feisty instrumental, “Angry Fiddler,” from the band’s first eponymous album (2010), in which Craig on fiddle was accompanied by Alec on guitar. 

The next four tunes were all from Tempus and included another instrumental, “Emergence,” with the melody played on a large whistle. Really beautiful and emotive. The last numbers of the second set invoked more Europop sounds as well as the band’s signature fusion of traditional Scottish folk music with rock. 

A lively number, “The Rise” from the Evo album, finally got folks up to dance. “Path To Home” from Live Across Scotland kept the intense vibe going to the very end before an encore was demanded. Two tunes, “Take My Hand” (from Evo, reputedly their most famous in Scotland) and another from Tempus—“Legends of the Sun” brought this special concert to a close.

For folks like me who find the sound of bagpipes both exhilarating and heartwarming, Skerryvore is a band worth following. They have played many international festivals, including the annual Irish Fest in Milwaukee in the past (and probably will again, though they aren’t on the lineup for this coming summer). 

In the meantime, it would  be super to have them return to Duluth for another engagement. As Alec told the audience, if each of the attendees returned and brought one companion along, the West would be filled. Let’s make it so!

Tivon Pennicott

And with regard to music festivals, this past weekend featured two great jazz concerts brought to us by UMD’s Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival – its 50th annual!

The first was on Friday, March 15, at Weber Music Hall. I was happy to attend the concert at this acoustically perfect venue for the second time ever. The featured performer was saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tivon Pennicott. 

This 38-year-old musician is a native of Marietta, Georgia, whose parents were Jamaican. He currently resides in New York City and is an artist-in-residence at the Annual Charlie Parker Celebration in Kansas City, Missouri. He was backed up by David Schmalenberger, a drummer/percussionist and educator at Augsburg University, Twin Cities native Mitch Van Laar on trumpet, and two of our own UMD Jazz Studies personnel, Ryan Frane jazz pianist, and all-round bassist Gordon Lewis. Together they performed several fantastic jazz numbers, from the classic “Sophisticated Lady” to more recent compositions by Pennicott.

Tivon (whose name means lover of nature) was a charming performer who was snazzily dressed in floral pants and orange socks. He demonstrated how to use the tenor sax as a percussion instrument on a Dizzy Gillespie piece, “Con Alma,” which he arranged. He also sang for us, with the amusing and persuasive tune “Celery Juice,” which he explained was “…good for you” because it cured his eczema. 

Both those tunes are on his 2020 album Spirit Garden, along with another he performed, “Fermented Grapes.” A drum solo by Schmalenberger was a wonderful addition to “All The Things You Are” while “Let Our Hearts Decide” by Tivon gave us some nice jazzy vocals along with his melodic sax.
The final number “Tour Life,” another Tivon original, was a real tour de force, with Lewis burning it up on electric bass.

The next evening was a dividend for jazz lovers with UMD students who make up Jazz Ensembles I and II. The concert at the Marshall Arts Performing Center began with a “second line” entry of the Jazz Ensemble II players down the concert hall’s aisles.  Trumpet player Riley Helgerson was a featured performer on the three numbers played by that group. “Central City Sketches No. 1 & 2” by Benny Carter was especially engaging, with solos by the muted horns and the baritone sax, piano and trumpet solos. 

Then it was Jazz Ensemble I’s turn to entertain us together with Tivon. The first number was “Doodle Oodle” by Billy Byers that featured the entire sax section – it was a fun number with its particularly apt title. 

All in all, both concerts were well worth attending. Keep the 51^st annual Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival on your radar for 2025.

As I noted in last week’s column, there were lots of other music events celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, among them Teague Alexy and the Paddy Wagon at Caddy Shack on Friday evening, most of which I unfortunately missed (due to the conflict with the UMD concert). 

When I finally arrived in time for the last couple numbers, the place was pretty crowded and it was clear a good time was being had by all. On Saturday evening I finally had a chance to see the Centerville All Stars who were playing at the Kom-On-Inn. (Those of you who read my reviews regularly may recall I mistakenly reported this band was defunct in my piece on Mark Howley; luckily they are still alive and kicking!) 

This band rocks with both covers and original material.

Eira

Finally, wrapping up my St. Patrick’s Day entertainment was a concert of Celtic music by Willowgreen at Sacred Heart Music Center on Sunday afternoon, March 17. 

As an ecumenical lover of live music, I must say this was another more than satisfying performance. It began by featuring the music of Eira, comprised of a subset of Willowgreen members – Liesel Wilson (fiddle, erhu), Sue Spencer (acoustic guitar) and Jim Ofsthun (bodhrán, mandolin). One of the most interesting aspects was the playing of a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument, the Erhu, by Liesel, on three of their numbers. (She’s a promoter of this beautiful sounding instrument.) 

Willowgreen performed 12 primarily lively traditional Irish pieces. One contemporary number was Georganne Hunter’s gorgeous original, “Solstice Fire” on Gaelic harp; it was told that the melody came to Georganne in a dream. If so, all I can say is dream on Georganne!

Correction: Last week’s column in the printed Reader did not give the date for the next Blues Jam at R.T. Quinlan’s, which will be on Sunday April 14 at 4 pm. Come one and all and check it out!

Upcoming: lots more good live music is on tap for this coming week. Not to be missed is the Third Annual Songwriter Showcase hosted by Danny Frank and the Smoky Gold at SHMC on Saturday, March 23. This year the featured performers are Hannah Rey, Shane Nelson and Skarlett Woods. The music starts at 7 pm. See you there!