I spent the last couple of days revisiting old videos of Dolly Parton. I shed some tears for her. What a life! When I heard the news, I drove for miles and miles in my car with my daughters singing *Jolene* and *Islands in the Stream* at the top of our lungs, so happy that I could say they too, in Generation Z, were lucky enough to be touched by her voice as I was.

We spend so much of our current waking hours looking critically at people on social media and bad-mouthing, smearing, tearing each other down online.

It’s become our national pastime. Our president does it. Our stars do it. And then, here is this angel of a creature who seemed to be able to magically absorb light and give nothing but light back to the universe.

It was as if she walked onto the planet through a portal from another world where good people live, everyone wears sequins and has a story of overcoming the odds with grace and humility.

She may have been the best singer of all time. The believability in her voice, the purity of the tone, the one-of-a-kind mixture of the accent and personality. She had pop number ones, country number ones, beautiful duets and trios, and 60-plus years of bringing her Smoky Mountain magic on stage for us. She was an incredibly successful comedian, movie star, business person, philanthropist, all while carrying this one-woman brand around the world like an impossibly brilliant lightbulb.

And she was a songwriter of the highest caliber. She wrote *Jolene* and *I Will Always Love You* on the same night. And three thousand more.

In my opinion, she qualifies for a second chance at life. At the heavenly gates, St. Peter should lean down and give her a “get out of jail free” card, and she should come back down to earth as a baby born somewhere in a dirt-floor shack and show us once again how to beat poverty, spread love, literacy, and laughter. We are surrounded by darkness. Selfishness. Financial stresses.

But we had Dolly Parton.

Now what are we gonna do.

As for me, I am packing my car for my trip that will take me to the Northeast, the Midwest and the glorious green of Ireland. I am gonna spread my own light, with my little one-man lightbulb of songs and humor. I will never be the lighthouse Dolly Parton was, but this little light of mine keeps shining.

I may buy a sequined shirt for these shows.

I hope you will join me on my adventure as well.

Much love, y’all…See tour dates below.

Ellis

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Aug. 28–Sept. 1** — Chester, CT — NESR 10A — The New England Songwriters Retreat

Sept. 4–8** — Chester, CT — NESR 10B — The New England Songwriters Retreat

Sept. 10–21** — Ireland — Inishfree Tour of Ireland

Sept. 25** — Morristown, NJ — The Folk Project

Sept. 26** — Somerville, MA — The Burren

Sept. 27** — Tamworth (Chocorua), NH — The Farmstead

Oct. 2** — Meriden, CT — Olde Church Acoustic Series (First Congregational Church)

Oct. 3** — Bayport, NY — People’s Pub

Oct. 4** — Tuckerton, NJ — Lizzie Rose Music Room

Oct. 5** — Private show, Wantage, NJ

Oct. 9** — Godfrey Daniel’s, Bethlehem, PA (with opener Shanna in a Dress)

Oct. 10** — Lewes, DE — The Listening Booth (with opener Shanna in a Dress)

Oct. 11** — Vienna, VA — Jammin’ Java (with opener Shanna in a Dress)

Oct. 16** — Lexington, MA — Follen Folk Nights at Follen Church

Oct. 17** — Haverhill, MA — New Moon Coffeehouse

Oct. 18** — Piermont, NY — The Turning Point

Oct. 23** — Rialto, Akron, OH

Oct. 24** — Newport, KY — Southgate House

Oct. 31** — Halloween Livestream Party

Nov. 5** — The Sound Wall, Opelika, AL

Nov. 6** — Seven C, St. Petersburg, FL

Nov. 7** — Cafe 11, St. Augustine, FL

Nov. 8** — Luna Zoot, Tampa, FL

Nov. 27** — The Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC

Nov. 28** — Eddie’s Attic, Decatur, GA

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For show/ticket information, custom songs, Private Shows, One-on-Ones, and Vacation Tours simply visit my website at