Click here to purchase this album on Amazon.com

North Carolina native, Tony Ellis comes from a family of traditional banjoists and fiddlers. Inspired by Flatt & Scruggs, he took up bluegrass banjo in the '50s. He studied for a time with Don Reno, and joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1960. He served a two-and-a-half year apprenticeship before quitting professional music to raise a family, but continued to play in the Bristol, Tennessee area with old-time musicians such as George Pegram and Tommy Jarrell. 'At times Tony Ellis' music is tenderly romantic, seemingly visual; graceful then sprightly; while the happy mixes with the playful, and darkness drifts into the contemplative. These soulful melodies are born of a delicate balance of cultural tradition and artistic invention, forming a background for a gifted individual to express his enormous skills and his rare imagination. Listening to Tony's work, one learns what he values, and whom he cherishes.' -- Stephen Wade, producer