Dr. William Lee Ellis, Memphis blues musician, classical guitarist, and ethnomusicologist, has been named Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Music, at Saint Michael's College, starting this fall. Trained as a classical guitarist, Dr. Ellis is now a great advocate, performer and writer about traditional, blue grass and old time music.
Dr. Ellis’s recording of God’s Tattoos won the “Best International CD Release—Solo” at the 2007 BlueStar Awards in Australia. The same recording was a nominee for Best National Recording in the Muddy Awards, Cascade Blues Association in Portland, Oregon in 2006. He has made five recordings with Yellow Dog Records.
Professor Ellis is teaching the History of Rock and Roll and Music Theory this fall, and the History of Jazz and Writing on Music next semester.
“I look forward to bringing a little bit of Memphis to Vermont,” he said. “I was really attracted to Saint Michael's College because of its great reputation, and I’ve been impressed with the students and faculty; I’ve felt right at home—like this is a very good fit.”
Dr. Ellis earned a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance, summa cum laude, from Kentucky Wesleyan College in 1985, and a master’s degree also in classical guitar performance from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music in 1989. He earned his doctorate in musicology – Southern Regional Studies, from the University of Memphis in 2010, with a dissertation titled, “I Belong to the Band: The Music of Reverend Gary Davis.”
Dr. Ellis was assistant professor at the Visible School Music Worship andArts College in Memphis from 2010-2011, and at the same time was art critic and music journalist for The Commercial Appeal daily newspaper in Memphis. He was a music instructor at the University of Memphis from 2005-2009. From 1996 to 2005, Ellis was music editor/writer for The Commercial Appeal and did credentialed coverage of the Grammys in Los Angeles and New York, 2001-2005. From 1991 to 1996, Ellis was an English Professor at two universities in Japan, and a music writer for The Japan Times and The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo.
Professor Ellis performs blues guitar, sometimes with his father, Tony Ellis who plays banjo and fiddle. They have played at the Library of Congress and elsewhere, including performing with actor Steve Martin at the New Yorker Festival and on “Late Show with David Letterman.” He has also produced literally hundreds of articles about blues, jazz, gospel and music culture.
He has written entries on musicians Hawkins Bolden, Roy Ferdinand, Folk Art and Folk Music, for The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Folk Artforthcoming from University of North Carolina Press. For Mississippi Encyclopedia, forthcoming from the University Press of Mississippi, he has written on musicians Chester Burnett (Howlin’ Wolf) and Rufus Thomas. In addition to scores of articles for The Commercial Appeal, he has numerous written articles on Southern music for Delta Magazine, Raw Vision, American Music Teacher, American Record Guide, Billboard, and other publications. He has also written liner notes for a number of recordings.
Professor Ellis has led symposia and given lectures on the Blues, Elvis, Life in the Delta, Memphis Underground, and more, has made award-winning recordings, and has performed with his father on albums, on TV (Ken BurnsBaseball and Horatio’s Drive), and has written songs that others have recorded. He has performed on U.S. State Department world tours, and at hundreds of venues and festivals in the U.S.