Music Monday for January 6th, 2025

This week we have Music Monday: One Random Album, One Short Journey on Tuesday, because life is a thing. As it says in the overview, pick one album at random and listen to it front to back, then write a little blurb-y thing about it. Yeah - I’m cheesy. It’s OK.

This week’s album

This week shuffle brought us to Ellis Paul - A Carnival of Voices.

In his own words[^1]:

Ellis Paul doesn’t just write songs; he’s a guitar-carrying reporter who covers the human condition and details the hopes, loves, losses of those he observes, turning their stories into luminous pieces of music that get under your skin and into your bloodstream. And much like the artists who have influenced him, everyone from Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon to the singer-songwriter who is undoubtedly his greatest inspiration, Woody Guthrie, Paul weaves deeply personal experiences with social issues and renders them as provocative works that are as timely as they are timeless. Born and raised in Maine, Paul attended Boston College on a track scholarship and in the evenings became a fixture on the city’s open mic circuit. After winning a Boston Acoustic Underground songwriter competition, he caught the ear of folk luminary Bill Morrissey, who produced his indie album Say Something in 1993. This led to a seven- album contract with Rounder Records and the 1994 album, Stories

• When did you first hear this album? - Today. I’m not actually sure how or when it wound up in my library, but I’m glad it did.
• What were you doing when it played the first time? - Working and listening.
• What emotions or memories are attached to it? - None yet. It’s a pretty chill album though; definitely solid for “in front of the fireplace curled up and cozy”
• What would you write on the card if you gifted this album to a friend? - If Noah Kahan is currently New England’s poster child, Ellis printed the paper - sounds like Boston in the winter.
• Overall take? - 8/10, definitely will keep it in the rotation. Reminds me a lot of Guthrie and CSNY, which I guess isn’t a surprise given his history. Ghosts is a nice surprise.

Join in

Here’s the cheesy marketing hook - do your own and then come talk about it somewhere. It’ll be fun, I promise.

[1] Paul, E. (2023). Ellis Paul. Ellis Paul - Bio. https://ellispaul.com/about/bio/