Concert News

Rising Star Lindsay Ell to Perform at WGAR Afternoon Saloon

on

Lindsay Ell may still be a new name to many country fans, but the Canadian born, Nashville based singer/songwriter/guitarist has been working her way into a career in music ever since she picked up a guitar at 8 years of age.

She actually first started on the piano when she was 6, but two years later picked up one of her father’s guitars from his collection and discovered, as fate would have it, the perfect partnership for her talents. “From the minute I picked up the guitar, it was like another limb of my body. I just didn’t want to put it down,” Ell stated in an interview last year.

The multi-talented Ell will perform for the second edition of this year’s WGAR Afternoon Saloon this Wednesday at Quaker Steak & Lube in Sheffield.

Ell, 29, was attracted to country music as a child, listening to the format on radio for countless hours. At 13, she was introduced to Randy Bachman of the Guess Who and Bachman-Tuner Overdrive. He listened to a demo CD of her instrumentals and songs and compared her qualities to that of a young Chet Atkins. He decided to help her hone her songwriting and introduced her to jazz and blues guitar and produced her first album Consider This in 2008. Ell herself co-wrote most of the 11 songs along with Bachman.

At 18, Ell toured with legendary bluesman Buddy Guy, who told her that she reminded him of the first time he saw Bonnie Raitt.

She graduated from high school in Calgary a year early and after one year of college decided to make the move to Nashville. “That really brought me back to my country roots. And the Southern hospitality thing makes you feel so at ease and welcome. Everybody was so friendly, I felt at home from the moment I walked off that plane with my guitar on my back,” she said.

Ell started to receive more notice when she was part of the 2016 CMT Next Women of Country Tour and in March of 2017 released her Stoney Creek Records debut EP, Worth the Wait, which was produced by Kristian Bush of Sugarland. Less than five months later her debut album, The Project, was released and spent the first week at the top of the charts which, made her only the second female artist in 2017 to achieve that status.

The Project produced the singles “Waiting on You” and “Criminal,” the latter reached #1 on the Canadian Country Chart and made her the first solo female to claim the top spot since 2008.

When Ell first began working with Bush as her producer, he asked her what her all-time favorite album was. She named John Mayer’s 2006 release, Continuum. So, he gave her an assignment to record the whole album, on her own, in two weeks.

“Recording Continuum was the thing that started it all,” Ell explained. “Kristian taught me some of the most valuable lessons as my producer from this ‘homework’ assignment. He gave me three rules: I needed to play all the instruments myself, I needed to record it alone in my studio, and I had two weeks. Through it all, I remembered all the things I first loved about making music. I can’t wait for my fans to hear the music that helped shaped ‘Criminal’ and The Project!”

The Continuum Project was released late last month and has already been called  an album which showcases her strength and maturity as a consummate artist.

Ell, who toured with Brad Pasiley on his Weekend Warrior World Tour last year will join Sugarland’s Still the Same Tour in July, ahead of supporting select dates of Keith Urban’s Graffiti U World Tour this fall. She also collaborated with Urban on a new track, “Horses” that is featured on his album Graffiti U.

Lindsay Ell will be performing at the WGAR Afternoon Saloon at Quaker Steak & Lube in Sheffield, Ohio on Wednesday, June 13. The Caliber Band will open up the show at 5pm. This is a FREE concert.

Photo credit: Catelynn Rickenbacker/CCM

Recommended for you