Album Notes With Rory Ellis the discussion starts and ends with The Voice. That’s how it sounds like it should be written- with the first letters capitalised. Its and imposing instrument big and commanding, it’s like if Rory said jump you would reply “How High”. Lyrically and in the delivery there’s an air of menace too. On the songs waiting For Armaguard, “gonna shine my shotgun, try my luck, cause I’m waiting for the Armaguard truck” and the title track, the narrator fixes the listener with a smile that is more threatening than any scowl. But when The Voice rumbles up from the depths Ellis sounds like a man in need of comfort. On songs such as Jesus Lane and Not Much, he’s maybe been away from his Melbourne home for too long, seen too much, had his faith tested too often. Ellis is a storyteller with and ear for quirky yarns, and a couple here are a bit wide of the mark, such as PC love, a lament for the online generation. Musically it’s a good sound for Ellis, the pared-back instrumentation dominated by his guitar work and a punchy mix from Barry Stockley. Review By Jeff Glorfeld, The Melbourne Age ***1/2 /5 star review

Rory Ellis Perfectly Damaged (Independent) Armed with his guitar or banjo, Australian alt.country star Rory Ellis presents his fifth studio album ”Perfectly Damaged” to the world on June 27th. Rory Ellis is a native Australian but during the years working as a musician he somehow acquired the taste for the UK as his second homeland. Ellis started touring the UK for the first time in 2004 and has since then come back now and then to stay there on tour around the UK and the mainland. Musically this album is a mix of blues and country. From straight forward country songs like “The Gift” to a great blues track like “Street Angel House Devil”, Perfectly Damaged delivers a collection of good-time, toe-tapping songs, seasoned with the gravelly voice of Mr. Ellis. Together with his subtle acoustic instrumentation, his powerful vocal command brings the vivid stories from perfectly damaged to life. The leading track “Waiting for Armaguard” sounds like a crossover with folk and country. On “Jesus Lane” Ellis proceeds on bit further on the folk path, but the title track of the album is drenched deep in southern blues. Another nice song on the album is “Gravy Train”. This time Rory Ellis mixes old time country and rockabilly into something of his own. “65 Pontiac” brings out the best of the complete album and is my hot pick on ”Perfectly Damaged”. Think Tony Joe White meets Sixteen Horsepower and you have an idea of the killer tune “65 Pontiac” that is burned on this silver platter. Mixing blues, folk, hillbilly, country and rockabilly into something exciting and wild is without doubt the best way to describe ”Perfectly Damaged”. The album comes with enough diversity and genres that labelling it with Country would do it some damage in certain way, however this is not your average Americana as well and the moniker Americana would certainly not serve well for this album. Check it out for sure! Review By Mr. Blue Boogie, BillyBop Belgium, June 6, 2011, Rate (1-5) album rating: 4 out of 5 stars http://www.billybop.be/admin/CDdetail.asp?ID=10203

Rory Ellis Perfectly Damaged (Independent) Australian singer-songwriter Rory Ellis returns with his fifth studio album, an upbeat blend of 11 alt-country and blues-influenced tracks. Based around acoustic guitar and banjo, this is good-time, toe-tapping music sung by a man with a voice gravelly enough to give Kris Kristofferson or Tom Waits a run for their money. Good-time music with a dark edge and lyrics that take you by surprise. Dreams of robbing armored trucks, old cars, music business rogues, finding Jesus, bungled cocaine busts in Devon, annoying neighbours, aging disgracefully and computer dating – all these get a mention here. Standout tracks include the growling menace of the title track, the twanging guitars of ‘Pontiac’, and the hummable country bounce of ‘Street Angel House Devil’. www.roryellis.com Review By Gareth L Powell, Acoustic Magazine, UK, December 2010

Rory Ellis Perfectly Damaged (Independent) Australian singer-songwriter Rory Ellis has one of those voices you just can’t buy – rugged, gravelly, it oozes been there done that credibility and the words that emerge from deep in his throat are rough enough to use as sandpaper. His fifth album is self-confessedly heavily autographical and he dreams of armed robbery (“Waiting For Armaguard”), finds God (“Jesus Lane”) - somewhat surprisingly in Cambridge (UK not US) in a song that has melodic echoes of “Ghost Riders In The Sky” – and most poignantly and movingly on the closing “Flesh And Bone” attempts to both understand and explain his two autistic sons.“65” Pontiac” provides a bit of left field fun as Ellis hymns what in the liner notes he claims as “the love of his life” in terms more commonly used for a soul mate that breathes (”I never fell in love until I saw your body, you were blue and I was there”) and offers the great line “if you love something, why set it free, you’ll only want it back.” All this is set to a soundtrack of driving acoustic guitar with some nice bits and pieces added (steel on “Street Angel House Devil”, delicate percussion throughout). It’s Ellis and his voice that drives it though, a compelling instrument, it demands attention, effortless in its power and the combination of that and his old school storytelling, honed in the hard miles in puts in on the road make this a fine record. Review By Jeremy Searle, Americana UK, August 4th 2010