Conqueroo

William Lee Ellis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yellow Dog Records
• ASIN: B0000C8AU4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,847 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #58 in Music > Blues > Regional Blues > Memphis Blues
  • #67 in Music > World Music > North America > Appalachian

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide, June 2003

This disc deserves the W.C. Handy Award for Album of the Year in 2003.

Fresh, delicate but powerful... His lyrics are thoughtful, playful, even poetic. Conqueroo on Yellow Dog Records is a beautiful album.

Completely original, masterful mix of American music... clearly one of the standout releases of 2003 in any genre of music.

Product Description

From acclaimed Americana/Blues guitarist William Lee Ellis, godson and namesake of legendary bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, comes "Conqueroo", a song cycle steeped in the musical language of Appalachia and the Delta.

Ellis's most personal record to date, "Conqueroo" is also his most eclectic, a place where a cappella gospel, mountain balladry and rockabilly rhythms intertwine with Big Star-like melancholy, pristine country melodies and song structures that create a new language from old archetypes.

Accompanied by longtime pal Larry Nager, Memphis soul group the Masqueraders, vocalists Susan Marshall and Reba Russell, and his internationally renowned father, Tony Ellis, William Lee Ellis lays out 13 elegant, eloquent tunes, ranging from the soulful ("How the Mighty Have Fallen") to the heartfelt ("King of the Mountain"), while touching on every emotion in between. On "Conqueroo", Ellis is the vanquisher, the gentle master in control of his own musical destiny.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rooted in acoustic blues, but drawing on a broad array of folk traditions, June 23, 2009

By 

Nobody important - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Conqueroo (Audio CD)

There are plenty of acoustic blues revivalists around. Very few are anything more than recreationists. William Lee Ellis understands the roots of folk music, but recombines them in new and interesting ways, always keeping things lively. As a guitarist, he is quite skilled, but not on the level of players like Kelly Joe Phelps, Martin Simpson, or other giants of folk and blues guitar. However, his playing is always interesting and tasteful, particularly with a slide. Most importantly, though, he understands the common roots of folk, blues, country and gospel, and each track on this album is a slightly different balance. The arrangements are varied as well, and even include an a capella gospel song, with backing vocals. The lyrical content of that track would probably bother religious traditionalists, but the music is always exciting. Ellis has two other albums out as of the writing of this review-- The Full Catastrophe, and God's Tattoo. This is my favorite, largely because it is the most eclectic. The base here is in the blues, but the sound is far more adventurous than most acoustic blues.

Further listening:

Anything by Bob Brozman

Alvin Youngblood Hart, Territory. This is Hart's most eclectic album.

Hazmat Modine, Bahamut. Don't even try to classify it. Blues, jazz, klezmer, Tuvan throat singers... I don't know what it is, besides brilliant.

Tony Furtado, Roll My Blues Away. A bluegrass musician starts to dip his toes into blues, and a variety of other forms.

Zubot and Dawson, Strang. Blues, bluegrass, jazz, and everything else by a duo that sometimes backs Kelly Joe Phelps.

Anything by Tri-Continental. Folk, blues, and African forms, particularly from Madagascar.