Lindsay Ell In Concert
Sugarland, The Band Perry, and Randy Bachman are just a few of the music industry luminaries who believe Lindsay Ell is one of country's future superstars. Her third album and first for Stoney Creek Records, The Project, convinced many more listeners when it became the top-selling country album the week it was released in August of 2017. It's a powerful showcase for a gifted singer-songwriter who plays a mean blues guitar.
Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Ell was a young teen when she found a mentor in Randy Bachman. The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive great brought her to his studio in B.C. to record her first album. Released in 2006 on Bachman's label Ranbach Music, Consider This presented a talented artist comfortable performing folk and blues as much as the country sounds she knew so well. Her follow-up Alone came in 2009.
After many trips back and forth to Nashville for shows and songwriting sessions, she made the country music capital her home. In 2013, her first single for Stoney Creek, "Trippin' On Us," garnered over 50 first-week adds at country radio. With the young Canadian's rising profile south of the border came more admirers, including The Band Perry, who picked her to open for their We Are Pioneers World Tour. And Keith Urban, Big & Rich, and Gretchen Wilson were happy to have her on the road, too.
Ell is a special favorite of Sugarland, whose frontman Kristian Bush has become another mentor. In addition to co-writing and producing the songs on The Project — including "Criminal," a No.1 single on the Canadian country charts — Bush invited Ell to perform in the Speakeasy Social Club, a duo that soon became a fixture at Sugarland concert after-parties.
A challenge posed by Bush gave Ell another chance to show off her wide range of interests and abilities. Asked by her producer to re-record her favorite album, Ell chose John Mayer's Continuum. The results were good enough to be released as The Continuum Project, which reached No. 28 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart in 2018. Suffusing Mayer's Grammy winner with her own brand of country, blues, and pop, Ell again proves herself to be one of modern country's most singular and versatile new talents.
