Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Velden am Wörthersee (Vrba na Koroškem) / Bluesiana Rock Cafe / Austria
Concert date: 06.05.2015
Attendance: 60
Ticket price: €16.00 (advance) / €21.00 (day of show)
It was time for another visit to Bluesiana. Sleep-deprived and still completely buzzing from the Šankrock spectacle at Križanke, the Rockline crew crossed the northern border to this small but so warm and welcoming club in Austrian Carinthia.
Bluesiana is alive and kicking again. And that’s partly thanks to Ulrich Ellison, who at the end of 2014 organized a benefit concert in Austin, Texas, USA to help Bluesiana, inviting his musician friends from Austin to play, most of whom had already performed at Bluesiana themselves. And Ulrich’s generosity doesn’t stop there – he also set up a donation page for Bluesiana at http://www.gofundme.com/savethebluesiana, where you can still donate, since Bluesiana has debts it still has to pay off. And a musician this selfless, who loves Bluesiana this much, is well worth catching live.
So who exactly is Ulrich Ellison? Born in Graz, he earned two degrees in music while living in Austria. His success in his studies won him a Fulbright student exchange scholarship, and that took Ulrich Ellison to Austin, Texas, where his classically trained playing quickly started picking up awards in the blues/rock category. In early 2015 he released his fourth studio album, “Dreamchaser”, which he actively promoted during the show.
When we arrived at the club, Ulrich Ellison was already on stage, giving his opening address to a sadly small crowd. But that didn’t faze Ulrich one bit – after a quick hello he grabbed his oddly shaped guitar and ran a pick across the strings. He then coaxed even stranger sounds out of it with a violin bow. Ulrich is a master of all kinds of guitar techniques, and he showed us every last one of them at this gig. With an incredible feel for the instrument, he tackled everything from simple strumming to demanding arpeggios and tapping. But Ulrich Ellison doesn’t just have a wealth of guitar know-how, he also handles the lead vocals while playing. Vocally his songs are simple, but the delicate delivery, paired with the guitar, carries the listener off into a dreamy, flowing mood with a cathartic effect.
Ulrich Ellison plays and sings mostly romantic ballads, with happiness in love as the common thread. He’s not nostalgic about it, though, he looks ahead to a happy future with optimism. Of course, he couldn’t create all that happiness on stage alone – at Bluesiana he was joined by his life partner Sabine Ellison on bass and drummer Joel Duhon. Sabine, with her charming smile, embodied the happy love and positivity pouring out of the speakers, while the tireless Joel used his rhythmic precision to help chase the dreams of everyone on stage and in front of it. Both bandmates added vocals that rounded out the choruses of songs from Ellison’s latest album, “Dreamchaser”, which the trio played on stage. Naturally, Ulrich Ellison also slipped a few covers in among his own material. He stayed true to the blues, occasionally spicing it up with grittier riffs and a faster tempo. But Ulrich Ellison is by no means a static musician who sticks stubbornly to a set path through his songs. Quite the opposite – in the longer improvised passages he boldly worked in riffs from famous rock tunes, and there was no shortage of melodies from cartoons and commercials either, which Ulrich, with a mischievous look on his face, literally carried out into the crowd while “jamming”. Whenever he wasn’t singing along, Ulrich often wandered across the whole club while playing, stopping by people standing, and sitting down at tables with the seated audience. The small crowd meant he could make eye contact and share a guitar greeting with literally every single person there.
With a break in between, Ulrich Ellison & Tribe entertained the Bluesiana crowd for almost a full two hours. And after the show they didn’t just slip quietly backstage, they hung around the club chatting with the audience. With their authenticity, soulfulness and professionalism, they convinced us that we absolutely can’t miss them on their next European tour.
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