It happens to many music artists to go back to their roots, after a certain amount of time and once their careers have reached the highest reachable artistic pinnacle.
The same can be said for the American Blues-Rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Tinsley Ellis, a well-known and internnationally well respected artist that, for more than 4 decades, has impressed and very much still impresses to these days thousands of lovers of the genre, thanks also to his razor-sharp ability in Ellis' guitar playing style and for his deep and powerful vocal delivery.
An artist that has shared the stage and collaborated, through the decades, with equally famous fellow Blues and Blues-Rock artists such as Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Dixon and many more, throughout his remarkable career, Tinsley Ellis had openly announced, back in 2023, his desire to go back to his Blues roots, something that the Atlanta-born artist ended up accomplishing in 2024, through an acoustic Blues record called Naked Truth, that reached high praises worldwide both from the music press and Ellis' many fans.
Tinsley Ellis must have, evidently, enjoyed very much the idea to get back to be playing his music at a more stripped-down level, not only because of the vast consensus obtained through the release of Naked Truth, but also because it inspired the American singer-songwriter to write, in the last 15 months, some new and exciting material, adding to his new compositions a Mississippi Delta Blues flavour mixed, at times, with layers of Gospel and Folk.
The result of this recent new outburst of Ellis' creativity brought to the release, at the end of January 2026, of a brand new album called Labor Of Love, an inspired body of work that includes 13 new songs belonging to some of the best musical repertoire released by the American Guitar Maestro in the last two decades.
Labor Of Love is, in our website's opinion, a vast step up to an already rich and opulent album like Naked Truth was recognised as, back in 2024; the songs included in Ellis' new offer exude a combustion of lyrical honesty and musical ferocity, with Tinsley Ellis dipping, from time to time, from Traditional Blues into Hill Country Blues (Low Land Of Sorrow), American Primitive Guitar (Lay My Burden Down), Gospel (I'd Rather Be Saved), Folk (Sad Sad Song) and 70's Acoustic Blues/Rock (Long Time) with such quality, class and style of a very high level.
Musically, Labor Of Love sees the 68-years-old American artist tinkering often on mandolin too, adding to some of the album’s songs an additional and very much welcomed sonic flavour, complementing Tinsley Ellis' already incredible ability in playing his 1937 National Steel guitar, Ellis' beloved 1969 Martin D-35 guitar and many more Martin D's used in the recording of this greatly accomplished album.
Vocally, Ellis delivers also a very measured, well balanced and composed performance, throughout his new record, showing a surprising vocal eclecticism, especially in songs like the album's opener Hoodoo Woman, or on tunes such as To A Hammer and The Trouble With Love, among others.
Tinsley Ellis, through Labor Of Love, doesn't show any signs of wanting to slow down at all, in his already very successful musical journey; instead, the American guitarist and singer-songwriter keeps on pushing himself forward, artistically speaking, delivering one of Ellis' most poignant and heartfelt albums of his career to date, confirming Tinsley Ellis, once again, as one of the most talented and inspired artists in the Blues-Rock history of the last 4 decades of American Music.
Labor Of Love is out now and it is available to be purchased via Alligator Records .
