On the Bright Side: Area woman releases her first album

By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer

March 17, 2009 04:00 am

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A Mount Vision woman is hoping her musical talents will help her follow her dreams.

The first album by Esther Grace Ellis will be on sale at her performance at 6 p.m. March 27 at the Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta.

The 21-year-old wrote and recorded the five songs on the disc, performing on piano and singing in Nashville in December.

Ellis wants to use the earnings to return to Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where she completed one year in 2006-07 and hopes to get a degree as a public school music teacher, she said.

"I've always loved music," she said. She started studying piano at age 6 and sings at Bible Baptist Church in Mount Vision, where her father is a reverend. She was encouraged recently to add singing to her performances.

The album, entitled "Ease the Longing," was released on download sites such as iTunes and Amazon, and is expected to be available at the event, she said. Her songs are also available on her MySpace and Facebook pages.

Not every song mentions her spiritual beliefs, though they infuse everything, she said. Her musical influences include Iron and Wine and Emmylou Harris, and she will perform some of their songs at the upcoming concert.

"Tragedy and loss aren't (necessarily) a bad thing," if they make you a stronger person, she said.

That theme is part of her music, which she described as "alternative folk." It's more "progressive" than the traditional style, with more rhythm, she said.

She was also influenced by Kim Patterson, a piano instructor at Hartwick and the State University College at Oneonta, with whom she studied with privately before she went to college.

"She can really go far," said Patterson after hearing the album.

Although she is a talented classical player, he encouraged Ellis to write her own songs, he said. Her voice and performance have matured since he last heard her, he said.

"I'm looking forward to hearing her live," he said.

The concert is scheduled for the upstairs theater, said Geoffrey Doyle, the technical director at Foothills. It can fit about 200 people and the acoustics are great, he said.

Doyle compared Ellis' style to that of Norah Jones, with beautiful melodies and piano.

"It's very listenable," he said.