Ellis Paul Productions

Hey Kids—
What a summer! What a season of transitions— in a world that is desperate for change as well.

I just brought my daughter Sofi to Savannah, so now both kids are packed up and off to college. I sit before you writing this after a roller coaster of a summer, personally.

I had a couple of emergency room stops  - I’m fine BTW - and I am currently coming off a week with COVID. It seems like the universe was hell bent on making me stop in my tracks. Sit still awhile. Breathe. Wheeze.

So, I had to unplug for a bit and get my bearings, which meant no social media, no livestreams, just getting back to a healthy renewed version of myself. It does feel good now to have taken some time away. Its an empty nest, but I feel like an egg, not a bird.

Their absence has opened a floodgate of time into my life. I’ve been drifting on it.

I’ve been stuck this spring and summer— and I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. The shows were great, and I’ve written about twenty new songs that were ready to go into a studio, but the ideas felt more like strays than forward steps that moved me deeper into my artistic life. There was no consistent solid theme, or surprises. Like most artists, my emotional/spiritual/physical life survives from the nourishment of my creative life. My artistic work has to be bountiful and fulfilling. I was feeling stuck.

I’ve done alot of albums in my career, and this was the first time that I felt like I was about to coast into the studio, without that high that comes from of a new set of songs.

Then FINALLY, I wrote a new one. This one demanded I stop and put all the other songs aside.

My aim is to build a project around this one tune, and build a project around the character that lives inside of it.

I’ve decided to write a book/album/art project. A novel. The song is called “The Last Song Mankind Wrote”. The character lives in a world that exists after the machines have taken over. Humans live along the landscape in clusters. The main character is a songwriter/musician who roams from place to place, with a guitar and a cart full of radio equipment, broadcasting nightly to anyone who may be listening. His songs offer hope to humans and as the music spreads it brings them together. I will be including his evening broadcasts and his songs (using QR codes) along with drawings in the book.

There. I’ve said it. NOW I have to do it!

As the drafts of chapters are written, I will be sharing the songs and stories on my Patreon page. This will be using all the creative aspects of my life that I’ve been cultivating since I was a little kid. I’m still the same 3rd grader, humming to myself as I draw with crayons at the kitchen table.

I’ve never done anything like this before, so maybe being scared is a way to bring more excitement into my work. I don’t know. I’m just starting.

I’ve always felt like a writer, much more than a musician. I create settings and characters and walk them through a plot and some kind of an emotional geography.

Maybe this is truly what I’ve always been working towards?

Most of you know I’ve done a couple of children’s books, and an essay/lyric book. This will fall into the adult/young adult/science fiction category with corresponding art and music to drive each chapter forward. I will release the songs as a seperate album as well, when the project is finished.

Are any of you literary agents? Publishers? Let me know.

This will be slowing down my income stream of new material quite a bit. I’ve still have to write or adapt 20-ish songs and 30 drawings for the project and of course, write the damn book. That’s why Patreon is so important to me right now! Join my subscription channel to watch the project unfold. It may take six months to a year for it all to come together. But Patreon will allow you to get the whole evolution of the book! 1st draft and all.

Join here:
https://www.patreon.com/ellispaul?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

I hope the sad week we’ve had has not taken too much of your sense of trust. Start something new. Make the world a better place.

Lots of dates below. Come out and alert your friends! You can visit ellispaul.com/calendar for details.

Much love to you all—
Ellis

SEPTEMBER
Fri Sep 19 Kennett Flash, Kennett Sq, PA
Sat Sep 20 First Encounter, Eastham, MA
Sun Sep 21 Bull Run Shirley, MA
Fri Sep 26 Jonathons, Ogunquit, ME
Sat Sep 27 FARHOF, Cambridge, MA (History of Folk Day)
Sun Sep 28 Lizzie Rose Room, Tuckerton, NJ

OCTOBER
Fri Oct 3, Me and Thee Marblehead, MA
Sat Oct 4 443 Club Syracuse, NY
Sun Oct 5 4pm Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem, PA
Sat Oct 18 Treehouse HC Tulsa OK
Sun Oct 19 Lied Ctr, Lawrence, KS
Wed Oct 22 Blue Strawberry, St Louis, MO
Thu Oct 23 Brightside, Dayton, OH
Fri Oct 24 Bluebird Cafe, Nashville, TN
Sat-Sun apct 25-26 Greers Ferry Retreat, AR
Tue October 28 Sound Wall, Opelika, AL
Thu Oct 30 WSLR Presents, Sarasota, FL
Fri Oct 31 Halloween Livestream

NOVEMBER
Sat Nov 1 Cafe 11, St Augustine, FL
Sun Nov 2 Coconut Cabana, St James City, FL
Sat Nov 8 Stone Soup, Providence RI
Sun Nov 9 Parlor Room, Northampton, MA
Thu Nov 13 Mucky Duck Houston, TX
Fri Nov 14 Old Folks New Folk Fest, Fischer, TX
Sat Nov 15 The Blue Door, OKC, OK
Fri Nov 21 The Kelly Ctr, Havertown, PA
Sat Nov 22 Jammin Java, Vienna, VA
Fri Nov 28 The Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC
Sat Nov 29 Eddies Attic Decatur, GA

DECEMBER
Fri Dec 5 Log House HC Westport, MA
Sat Dec 6 Circle of Friends, Franklin, MA
Sun Dec 7 Music Hall Lounge, Portsmouth, NH
Fri Dec 3rd Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
Sat Dec 20 The Barn, Egremont, MA
Sun Dec 21 The Turning Point, Piermont, NY
NEW YEARS RUN Dec 29, 30, 31 Club Passim, Cambridge, MA