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Dolan
Ellis
I write the songs but not
for fame
My songs belong to the sun and rain
Forget my face, forget my name
Just call me The Balladeer
The lyrics are true. Dolan
Ellis is a very talented poet and tunesmith who could have directed his efforts
toward the commercial market. Instead,
he chose to write about, sing about, and teach us, Arizonans and visitors alike,
about the state he loves.
Dolan is not a native Arizonan. He
was born and raised in
Kansas
, and never even visited
Arizona
until he moved to
Phoenix
in 1959. And yet, that move seemed like a homecoming
to the young man who had loved the Western movies, especially those featuring
the “singin’ cowboys.” He fantasized that all of the movies
depicted life in Arizona. Dolan knew that Arizona, with its wide-open spaces,
was the place he ought to be.
Dolan
had spent his very early years on a farm, and even after the
Ellis family moved to town (Topeka), they still visited the family
farm often. Dolan was always interested in nature. A song that
he wrote early in his career, "Son
of the Desert," is
semi-autobiographical. The boy in the song clearly grows up in
the Southwest:
...
He'd stroll the quiet sandwash
Follow trails the
quail had made
His desert friend, a cactus wren
Would chatter where he played
In the ironwood trees the honey bees
Buzzed like a violin band
For the son of the desert and brother to the land
...
This child of the dry earth
Has grown into a man
Today he makes his livin'
With a guitar in his hand
His songs are his love song
Of the wildnerness he ran
As the son of the desert and brother to the land
In
Phoenix
, Dolan spent some time in the television
industry while he worked at a great little coffee house in
Scottsdale
called
Portofino
’s. He
soon quit the television job and became the house act, opening
for and learning from the best of the era’s folk artists. Gigs
at
Portofino
’s
and other “happening” coffee houses throughout the
West provided an opportunity for his music to be noticed at the
national level.
When
Randy Sparks was recruiting solo artists and small groups to become
part of the New Christy Minstrels, Dolan was a natural fit, with
his great baritone voice and 12-string guitar, his enthusiasm,
and his clean-cut good looks. By 1963, the Christies were
at the top, with a Grammy for best group, five albums including
some that were gold, 39 consecutive weeks on the nationally televised
Andy Williams show, and appearances at the best concert venues
in the nation. That
was when the future Arizona Balladeer left the group to move back
to his beloved, adopted state and once again explore its back roads,
canyons, and mountains—and
meet its unique people.
Upon
leaving the Christies, Dolan wrote another autobiographical song, “Goin’ Home
to Springerville." Springerville,
a real but very small town in the Whtie Mountains of Eastern
Arizona, was a metaphor for Scottsdale and Phoenix, which at
that time still had the small town feeling. He wrote
it on the airplane back to Phoenix, after they finished an engagement
in Lake Tahoe. Dolan
had just made a huge decision, and the song lyrics and bluesy
sound seemed to echo his feelings.
...
Goin' back to bein' me
Done spent my cash on that silly trash
And I miss that hash and succotash back home
I got my pack strapped on my back
and I'm walkin' down that lonely
track, ohh ohh
It's a long, It's a long lonesome road
Goin' home to Springerville
Well it's been so long since I've been gone
and it feels so good
to head back home, oh my
Well, I'm standin' here in this dreary rain
and I'm waitin' for
that home-bound plane to fly
And it's a long, and it's a long, lonesome road
More than 40 years and
300 songs later, Dolan Ellis is still going strong. In 1996,
he began performing at the non-profit, 501c3, Arizona Folklore
Preserve, which he founded in Ramsey Canyon south of Sierra Vista. It
had taken more than five years to restore the property and go
through all the necessary legal steps. Now the Preserve is now
under the ownership of the
University
of
Arizona South and operated by the
AFP Board of Directors.
The
Balladeer remains Artist-in-Residence and appears there one weekend
each month, presenting different shows based on the seasons of
the year and holidays and such. On other weekends, he books
the best of
Arizona
cultural
and folk artists to appear at the rustic stage in the Preserve’s
theater, which Dolan designed specifically for presentation of
acoustic music. Dolan
proudly keeps track of the number of folk artists who have
appeared on his stage--a number that has now exceeded
200. Regular customers of the AFP have learned to trust Dolan
in his choice of guest artists. They know any show that Dolan
books is going to be highly entertaining.
Until
very recently, Dolan's appearances with the New Christy Minstrels® were
rare. A major reunion in Queen Creek, Arizona, in April 2005
changed everything. After that, the group got together several
more times. Now they have a regular touring group consisting
of Randy Sparks, Jackie Miller Davidson, Dolan, Art Podell,
Clarence Treat, and two newer members: Becky Jo Benson and
Buffalo Bill Boycott. Barry McGuire joins them when he's available.
They've already done several tours, and will be in Arizona
at the end of January for eight concerts, one of which will
be a benefit for the Arizona Folklore Preserve.
The Balladeer takes
his own one-man show on the road throughout the state: formal
concerts, conventions, cowboy poetry and music gatherings,
folk and storytelling festivals, private parties, and occasional
benefit performances. His
shows consist mostly of his own songs about
Arizona
people, places, and things. At the Arizona Folklore Preserve
and at other venues on demand, he uses large screen photography,
mostly his own and occasionally historic, to illustrate the
songs. His
baritone voice is better than ever, with an almost unbelievable resonance, and
his 12-string guitar adds a special dimension to the music. Dolan connects
with his audiences as few performers can do, relying on his humor and storytelling
skills to enhance his considerable musical talent.Aan
even when growing up in Kansas
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