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| Dolan Ellis
Humor
Evidence of the humor of Dolan Ellis dates back to the early 1960s, with his tongue-in-check album, Almost Authentic Folk Songs (by Dolan Ellis and the Inn Group) , and his time with the New Christy Minstrels. Christies biographer Tom Pickles wrote about the original group and included this description: "Dolan Ellis was a strong baritone and a charismatic comedian." Thus, it comes as no surprise that the kid who was so funny back in those days, contributing in ways more than musical to the success of the group that took the country by storm, is still a funny guy today. He has written some humorous songs, such as The Bombing of Naco, and many of his songs have comedic elements. A great example is Only the Dead Stay Down, a song with a very serious subject, about the determination of rodeo participants who are hurt not to let the fans see their suffering. But Dolan makes it funny, especially when one is lucky enough to SEE him sing the song. The following is a short video, just to show how funny a serious subject can be.
When Dolan is on stage, he is constantly telling his one-liners, and very often will stop mid-song to deliver a quick joke... and he does so without missing a beat. The following are several collages of video, with various funny remarks by Dolan. Enjoy! The following three clips were taken at the Arizona Folklore Preseve on November 9, 2002, just after the Arizona gubernatorial election and before Janet Napolitano was declared the winner. Dolan opened the shows for guest artist Sue Harris that weekend. Sue had chosen the AFP as the venue for her CD release concert for her Tall Tales & Treasures CD.
These three clips are from one of Dolan's dinner shows at the AFP, in September 2004. The first requires a little explanation. Dolan occasionally sings a song by Travis Edmonson called "I'm a Drifter," and he has a hard time getting past one particular lyric without comment.
These clips came from one of Dolan's "Arizona Characters I Have Known" shows.
These clips are from February 2004, during the weekend of the Cochise Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering:
These come from a show in September 2003.
Now, three clips from a "Christmas in the Air" show in 2003. This one is an excellent example of Dolan's interaction with the audience. The enitre "12 Days of Christmas" was so funny that it was hard to select just a little of that video.
This special introduction to "John Henry" occurred in June 2003. Igor Glenn and Ian Macpherson are on the stage with Dolan.
The two clips below show Dolan in another of his "Arizona Characters I Have Known" shows. The first clip shows that a quick-thinking lighting engineer can contribute a lot to the fun.
This next video is from a "Song of Spring" theme show and features the song by the same title. Here, instead of seeing Dolan on stage you'll see some of the images he projects--proving that they serve as props for his humor as well as illustrations of his songs. You can see Dolan in this video, though. That's him dancing around in the field of poppies.
Memorial Day 2003: The first little clip is a guitar player's joke. The other two clips refer to the knowledge that it's okay for the presenter of the National Anthem to sing with his head covered (in other words, wearing a cowboy hat, as Dolan was allowed to do when he sang it for a Diamondbacks game).
This is also from a show during 2003. The first clips come from the introduction to Scotch & Soda, then there's one from the actual song. Finally, there's a little clip from "Buddy It's a Shame."
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site design and maintenance by Bonnie Brock: webmaster@dolanellis.net
The background image on these pages: "the" Arizona Sycamore at the Arizona Folklore Preserve's New Folklore Center
All photography (including video) and text on this site, except as otherwise credited, is by Bonnie Brock © Bonnie Brock.