Rory Ellis Two Feathers (Villainous Records UK) Rory Ellis glares menacingly from the cover of his new disk on the Villainous label. At first listen these portents seem utterly misleading. Ellis embraces each song with a voice like a big, warm, comfortable doona, and the musical accompaniment, led by Dave Steel on guitars (plus dobro and mandolin) and Tim Neal on Hammond Organ, is delightfully free flowing and adept. As a songwriter, Ellis isn’t a typical blues man, owing more to the storytelling traditions of rural Australia. But there is an overriding feeling of melancholy to much of the music here, a sense of the blues deeply felt, and a sad man can be a dangerous man. This then is a record that reveals its many moods gradually, from the tender Little One to the angry No Love In This War. Backed by many of Melbourne’s finest players, including Barry Stockley on bass, Peter Luscombe on drums, Matiss Schubert on violin, Kerri Simpson and Chris Wilson on backing vocals, this is another mighty effort from a musician who keeps improving. Catch him playing around town before he heads back overseas. Review By Jeff Glorfeld The Melbourne Age, March 20th , 2009 ★★★★/5

Rory Ellis Two Feathers I think I said last time that a new Rory Ellis record is a little like Christmas for me, such is the impact this artist has had on my musical palette over the last few years. A musician of extraordinary consistency, he brings not only a bunch of great songs to the fore with his fine storytelling lyrical style and staggeringly expressive vocal, but also an actual atmosphere descends on the listener -- whether you be listening on record or to him perform live. It's a real event. Anyway, album number four is here and has, like the last, real competition to contend with. Both his two previous outings -- the nearly live record 'Road of the Braver Man' in 2003 and 2005's 'The Rushes' were pretty close to the best albums I heard in those particular years and so not only is there anticipation with this new offering, also real intrigue. Can he really better the last one again? The answer is yes -- but in a different way this time. The last two albums had stand out tracks that instantly popped out at you on first listen, and stayed there whilst the slow burners quietly bubbled their way in to the mix. This album however is full of slow burners. I'll admit, I was almost a little disappointed on first listen. Such was the impact his previous two records, and to a lesser extend his first album 'Ride' had on me, I was expecting to be blown away -- but I wasn't. However, after another listen it sounded that little bit more familiar, and then slowly but surely the big songs came, and the even bigger songs then overtook them before I realised this whole record is yet again another work of pure musical brilliance. There is so much poignancy and longing in this record, more so than before I think. Songs of the suffering and pointlessness of war, songs of close family being all too far away. Thoughtful, vivid lyrics executed with that inimitable vocal delivery that we have come to expect and appreciate. The slide guitar sounds that have become almost a trademark in Rory’s work are in evidence again, along with the use of banjo in a few tracks. The instrumentation and vocals sit hand in hand perfectly to create yet another superbly put together piece. So, business as usual you could say -- but with a much bigger distribution deal in place this time around it is hoped that this record will finally propel Rory Ellis in to the big leagues in this country. He may be Australian, but he’s currently this country’s biggest secret and needs to be heard. Go and buy this record, and his others after that. I hate the use of the phrase life-affirming when writing about music, but this artist comes pretty close to being given that tag. Like I said, it’s an event when you listen, and everyone loves a good event Review By Phil Daniels, Folking, UK, July 2008

Rory Ellis Two Feathers (Villainous Records UK) "Salt-of-the-earth country blues" - Time Out London 2008

Rory Ellis Two Feathers Melbourne’s Rory Ellis is one of those singer/songwriters, like Leonard Cohen, who makes the hairs on your arms stand up by simply opening his mouth and uttering a few throaty words. Two Feathers is his latest effort, and it’s an incredible piece of work. His heartfelt tales of life, like ‘Passenger’ and ‘Suburban Soldier’, can be related to across the globe, yet he somehow manages to sound very Australian. Rory Ellis Acoustic Magazine UK Feb 2009 Brett Callwood.

Rory Ellis Two Feathers The great Australian singer/songwriter Rory Ellis who youll find at the Brook in Southampton on Tuesday possesses a beguiling voice of an entirely different stripe. Rory sings with such basso profund resonance that in the old days some record buyers would have been jumping up to switch the turntable speed to 45rpm, only to discover that they had also voided their bowels in the process. Rorys new album Two Feathers is, not surprisingly, supurb so thoroughly suffused with rootsy character, down home integrity, and proper old-school humanity that its like listening in sepia to an altogether better and more dignified world. From the sawing country blues of Bringin Daddy Home, to the brooding, ruminative acoustica of the title track, its a piece of work alright, setting the film reels in your mind flickering into life and unrolling an endless highway vista before your subconsciousness. Reviewed on the 27th June. Dorset Echo by Marco Rossi

RORY ELLIS TWO FEATHERS Urban Folkie Rory Ellis cuts a commanding figure, Visually he’s the kind of man you would’nt want to meet in a dark alley(something that came in handy in his past life as a bouncer at some of Melbourne’s less than salubrious pubs) but when you meet him and talk to him, you find he’s one of the most affable characters on the roots music scene n this country. It’s the combination of these two things that define this man, and ultimately his music. This is highlighted to a tee on Ellis’s new record Two Feathers, which seems to be on first listen the sum of all his musical parts so far. It might seem odd that a bouncer would deviate, career-wise, so far to become a folk musician, but this is a move that Ellis had to make and our scene is all the better for it, as one listen to Two Feathers will attest. This is a masterful record-it boggles the mind that Ellis waited so long to get into this particular part of his life. Don’t be confused, though: this isn’t the man’s first record, it’s actually his fourth, and as I said, it brings together all the strengths of his previous work and lays it bare for all to hear. This is fantastic. The first thing you notice is Ellis’s voice,. It’s as deep and dark as you’d expect it to be, looking at him, but what you might not expect is the tenderness it displays. It’s the perfect foil to the record’s folk melodies, its touch of the blues, its troubadour feel, helped in large part by some fantastic musicians in Dave Steel, Chris Wilson, Tim Neal, Peter Luscombe and Barry Stockley. Ellis sings of what he knows- life, the effects of said life, trouble, happiness- and as a result, this record is as real as the dirt beneath your feet, as the sky over your head and the heartfelt emotion you’ll feel having listened all the way through. - A winner in every sense.

Rory Ellis Two Feathers Excellent album that deserves attention from Australian singer/songwriter. This is the fourth album from Melbourne based Ellis who ploughs a furrow between the fields of folk and blues helped by a distinctive baritone and a gift for an arrangement within which to frame his narrative lyricism. There are fiddles, banjos, guitars and even the trusty Hammond here. Songs about compulsory unpaid overtime; Work;, race riots in Sydney; Suburban Soldier;, a hint of self-pity; Rollin On; with its wonderful steel guitar, the shattering of innocence and the lack of excuses for war; No Love in this War; and the beautifully fragile title track that examines childhood and its dreams with the gorgeous refrain; with two feathers in my fingers I thought that I could fly;. The quality occasionally dips as the tunes fail to live up to the sentiments; the aforementioned; Suburban Soldier; is meant to be a harsh marching beat and ends up sounding like a dirge but this is an occasional fault. Even a highly sentimental song to his daughter; Little One; remains just the right side of the tracks thanks to some exquisite playing and backing vocals. This is a long album but Rory Ellis puts few steps wrong. The production is sympathetic and energetic. All instruments get their own space to breathe and the spaces around them add to the mix; subtle splashes of colour such as the horns in; Take Me Away; have an almost Rubinesque feel about them which is high praise indeed. Sometimes an artist shoots himself in the foot by self-producing; not the case here. Beautifully packaged too!! Review By Keith Lovejoy, Americana UK, July 24, 2008

Rory Ellis Two Feathers Rory Ellis is a singer-songwriter from Australia and Two Feathers is his fourth album, but the first that I have had the pleasure to hear. His style is heavily influenced by blues with some seamlessly integrated country and folk flavourings, but the most striking thing is his deep, resonant baritone and his excellent Nina Simone like phrasing. Ellis composed all the material on the album and he has a wonderfully poetic use of words. Each of the songs includes a brief explanation of the circumstances that inspired the composition. Judging by the number of lyrics that cover the subject of travel and the prevalence of British references, he must spend a lot of time on the road and a large proportion of that time in the UK. There seems to be weariness in his view of life on the move and pondering how this life has affected his relationships. Rollin’ On and Bringin’ daddy Home are both full of feelings of home-sickness. Take me away was written on Brighton station before commencing on a journey, Home Tonight was written in Leicester and is a contemplation of another night in a hotel room, and Little One (written in Southampton) muses on the love for a daughter that he wishes he could see more often. Passenger is a contemplative song about the more figurative journey through life and references the song, Life’s been good to me, that appeared on the last Johnny Cash album. The album is not all about travelling and he writes about the racially motivated riots in the Cronulla area of Sydney in Suburban Soldier, No Love In This War covers the feelings of a soldier sent to fight in a foreign land for a war he doesn’t understand and Wrong Side Of The Tracks looks at the wasted lives of youths who hang around the streets of his home town. Dear Satan is about transgression and temptation and could have appropriately been called Sympathy For The Devil, if someone hadn’t thought of it first and Darlin’ Man is a tender eulogy to a friend and fellow musician who liked his drink a little too much. “Ellis’s marvelously rich and warm voice would be enough on its own to whisk you away into a reverie, but when this is allied to his exceptionally well crafted songs it makes a potent combination”. Review by Michael Hingston, Country Music People, UK, July 2008 rating 4.5 out of 5