ellen mcilwaine

Alberta Scene Festival 2005
photo: Fred Cattroll

one of my all time FAVORITE musicians. if you ever get a chance to see or hear her, please do so. i had the pleasure MANY times, but it has been MANY years. she will be on martha's vineyard in october and i am planning on attending. she lived in the storrs ct area years ago and played in and around the hartford area. she now lives way up in the great white north, alberta canada and doesn't get to new england often. the woman can play the woman can sing the woman has soul.

the following was in my mail inbox the other day (i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited)


October 21, Friday
Katherine Cornell Theatre, Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard Massachusettes Ellen is solo acoustic, new material, smoke-free environment, two sets. Doors open 7:00. For ticket info call (508)696-8392 or Tickets Hear Ellen on WMVY
October 28, Friday
Colony Cafe, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock New York Ellen is solo acoustic, new material, smoke-free environment, two sets Tickets $12. For info call (845)679-5342 or check their website at Cafe Listen to Ellen on WDST
...ELLEN McILWAINE...
...ACCOUSTIC GUITAR - VOCALS...

Ellen McIlwaine was born in Tennessee and moved with adopted missionary parents to Japan when she was only two. Exposed to everything from Japanese Folk and Classical Music, Rhythm and Blues greats like Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Professor Longhair on Japanese radio, as well as the Grand Ole Opry on American Armed Forces Radio, growing up in an International Community of families from India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe, etc. etc. she was playing World Music before it was called by that name!
2005 makes forty years as a professional musician! After starting out on Accoustic Guitar in Atlanta Georgia, moving to Greenwich Village in 1966, getting to know such greats as Odetta, Richie Havens, Mississippi John Hurt and Jimi Hendrix, gaining cult status through her Polydor albums and years on the road, she began to venture into the realm of lead guitarist in 1980. Soon thereafter she moved to Canada, less restrictive of female band leaders, and began playing in a Power Trio format, touring across Canada and Europe. In 2002 she toured Japan solo Electric in dance clubs and recorded in with local DJs. In 2003 she again took up her battered Accoustic Guitar to tour New Zealand and Australia on the bill with chanteuse extrordinaire Magret RoadKnight. With ten albums under her belt, one featuring the great bassist and singer Jack Bruce and the latest featuring world renowned Taj Mahal, she hopes to record a new album by the end of this year with the great Tabla Player Cassius Khan. With plans also in the works for a Slide Guitar Teaching DVD she hopes to have time to start her autobiography! For information and booking click Ellen's website at Ellen


To listen (MP3 30 second clips)Click Can't Find My Way Home Click Sidu/Egyptian Blues
http://www.ellenmcilwaine.com/"in a time of universal deceit, telling the truthis a revolutionary act!" george orwell