TINSLEY ELLIS RELEASES RADIO SINGLE AND VIDEO FOR TOO BROKE
Relix Magazine Premieres New Video
New Album Labor Of Love Released Today, January 30, 2026
| Labor Of Love is equal parts passion, grace and artistry…earthy, contemplative and gut-bucket. Ellis’ vocals deliver old-world goodness without pretense or artifice. [This is] the real deal for lovers of the bona fide. –Vintage Guitar Ellis delivers a masterclass in passionate musicianship. Raw, edgy performances. –Relix Labor Of Love is an unqualified masterpiece. –AllMusic |
Today, Friday, January 30, Atlanta-based blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis releases his new all acoustic album, Labor Of Love. This is Ellis' second acoustic album (after 2024's Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth), and his first acoustic album to contain all original material. The album will be available on CD, Georgia peach-colored vinyl LP and at all digital service providers. It is available to order here. His new radio single, the original Too Broke, hits the airwaves today. Additionally, Vintage Guitar magazine features Ellis on the cover of their newest issue (February 2026).
According to Ellis, Too Broke has lyrics everyone can relate to now. It was inspired, he notes, by blues great Tommy Johnson's Big Road Blues. A new video of the song, directed by filmmaker Tony Bieser, debuted yesterday via Relix magazine. Watch the video below.
With Labor Of Love, Ellis delivers a raw, edgy, self-produced set of 13 original compositions, all performed with pure emotional honesty. The songs spin modern tales of floods, conflagrations, voodoo spirits, personal travails and heaven-sent prayers. From the feral opener Hoodoo Woman to the John Lee Hooker-groove of Long Time to the evocative, Skip James-inspired To A Hammer to the Son House-style stomp of Sunnyland, Ellis inhabits his songs in a way that is simply astonishing.
Each performance carries the weight, experience and hard-earned wisdom Ellis learned over four decades on the road, making Labor Of Love as profoundly deep and moving as any music he has made in his career. It covers the gamut of emotions, finding good times in the hard times, mixing gentle beauty with foot-pounding ferocity.
During a break from the recording of the new album, Ellis spent time in Bentonia, Mississippi, birthplace of Skip James and home to blues legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Ellis soaked up the spirit of this tiny Delta town, hanging out with Holmes and getting a deep insight into genuine Bentonia blues. While there, Ellis performed with Holmes at his famous Blue Front Café, soaking up every moment. “Once I got home,” notes Ellis, “I went right back to the studio and incorporated everything that I just experienced into my music.”
For the album, Ellis used six different open tunings on his beloved 1969 Martin D-35, his 12-string Martin D-12-20, and his 1937 National Steel O Series guitars. He also, for the first time in his career, played mandolin on three of the album’s songs. The instrumentation and the tunings, he notes, create endless possibilities, and he finds himself constantly invigorated by the music.
Ellis has been traveling on his own, performing solo all over the country in his aptly named “Two Guitars And A Car” tour. For Ellis, playing solo, acoustic blues has helped him tap into the raw essence of the music. “I love doing these shows,” Ellis says, “I can be more expressive and emotional as a solo acoustic artist. I just love the sound of acoustic guitar. I always have.” Find Ellis' tour dates here.
“No matter what I play, I like to have an edge, "Ellis says. "For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them. I always told myself if I could just make a living playing the blues, I’d be, at least in my own mind, successful."
Premier Guitar believes he’s more than reached that goal, declaring, “Ellis is a legend of American blues music...he’s an American music treasure. He delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues, and is one of modern blues’ greatest performers.”
