RORY ELLIS Road Of The Braver Man – "Album Of The Week" Written by Natalie Vulic Beat Magazine, April 9th 2003

To put it simply, I have been blown away. As I sit here in front of my computer, having just finished listening to Road of the Braver Man, I have to admit my life has been enriched. Ellis is a man that has a story to tell and he knows how to tell it, a man that is an important person in the Australian music industry right now. Rory Ellis has seen some shit and has lived to tell his story, combining the sounds of the acoustic guitar, accordian, mandolin and dobro to create an urban folk masterpiece worth owning a copy of. Big Picture opens the album with Ellis' booming voice and mild humour as he asks whether his life would have been better off if he had chosen a different path.Maybe a pop star, a legend on screen/ if only I had a head of hair like James Dean.Luckily, Ellis didn't take that path! Union Hotel is an honest insight into working at a local hotel known for its seediness and crime, where getting out alive after each Saturday night was Ellis' victory. Although it's hard to pick highlight tracks because they are all gems in their own special way, two that stick in my mind are Railway Parade and album closer The Million Dollar Question. The former focuses on harsh realities, with Ellis singing matter–of–factly down on Railway Parade/ when you're gone you're history. The latter is a compelling look at life through the eyes of an innocent child, who asks dad the tough questions about life. What do you tell a child who asks why the news on television is always so sad? Ellis' lyrics bring to the surface questions that most of us think about but rarely seek answers to. Combined with music stripped back to its roots, with bluesy guitar solos that touch the heart and soul, Road of the Braver Man has the depth and spirit lacking in today's music. Throughout the album Ellis sings about another world, one that many of us are not exposed to on a regular basis. We learn about a side of Melbourne that most of us choose to forget about, the side where dark and troubled characters try to survive the hell that is living on the streets. We hear about people with harsh exteriors that are really lost souls struggling to live each day the best they can. After listening to Road of the Braver Man, you learn more about life than youwould listening to sugar–coated pop songs sung by kids that are still living a sheltered life with mum and dad. Rory Ellis, you are a poet that deserves to be heard, a man that deserves to be praised.

RORY ELLIS Road Of The Braver Man Written by: Phil Daniels FOLKING on the 7-Oct-2003

This has become a bit of a favourite in the Folking.com office and for a person who, when it arrived we had only heard one song from it was a very nice surprise to see he has a full album of great tracks.Now, listening to so many cd’s as I do of singer/songwriters, it can become quite samey and the topics covered can seem fairly repetitive at times with nothing to offer that hasn’t been done before. This man, Rory Ellis from Melbourne, Australia does have something which is fairly unique in this time and that is he has lived his songs. With this guy you’re not going to get the halfhearted songs that a lot of artists bring out. Songs about troubled personal suffering and living the streets when really they’ve always lived in 30 room mansions with butlers on hand 24 hours a day! This man writes and performs songs from the heart about his own life that really feels as if you’ve been taken on an emotional roller coaster. One of the main reasons you feel as if you’re living every word he sings is because of his voice. A really weathered, gravely vocal seems to carry the songs to the next level from written word into the mind of the listener. He is one of those performers who, even if you haven’t really enjoyed listening to the cd first time you’ll always give it another listen and things will start to happen, songs become more familiar and before you know it this is one of your favourite records. I’m not going to pick a standout track for this album, as you really have to listen to it as a whole to appreciate the raw power and emotion. It is a way of life on record and should be treated that way.

RORY ELLIS Road Of The Braver Man Written by Jackey Coyle Rhythms, June 2003 Edition

Such is the quality of Rory Ellis's voice alone the richness of the timbre, the skill of his technique – that he conveys an irresistable charisma. And that's not even counting his songwriting skills. The first few verses I heard, I was done for – instant fan.Ellis's particular style, that he calls "urban folk", was melded living in a boxing gym, honed playing in Melbourne pubs, polished gigging on the festival circuit He recorded this, his second solo album, over three days live in the studio with no less than Dave Steel (guitars, accordian,percussion, mandolin and it's celtic cousin the cittern) and Stuart Speed (bass). Fine engineering, courtesy Harry Willems, picks up every nuance of Ellis's acoustic guitar and the voice that he uses, seemingly effortlessly, to convey a sense of intimacy and barely suppressed emotion. He is a master of light and shade, of knowing when not to sing in order to give full effect. Ellis wanted to capture an earthy, acoustic feel in the songs he has Written in the two years since his Steel produced debut, Ride.He's managed to do that with a minimum of instrumentation, yet a variety of sounds to capture different feels.The powerful "Union Hotel" paints a classic picture of a pub Saturday night: "There's a deal goin' on the back table of the room /Somebody just bought some zoom zoom zoom.... All half spoken, laconic: Now a fight broke out on the old dancefloor / So I wiped up the bloodstains and showed them the door / Please take it outside now fellas and finish it there..And a visual marker: All the while that old mirror ball keeps on turnin'..."Miguelito" is the tune that intrudes the most into my days, with its Latin lilting melody and unforgettable pictures: So feed me up with a lemon to keep me mean and thin. Just over an hour and fifteen tracks, the disc has bonus footage of the four–and–a–half minute "Lambs" recorded live – an intimate portrait with some well chosen close up footage of Steel on dobro and Ellis's close to mike vocals.