In 1996, I was a young artist. I graduated college, got married and moved from Iowa to remote Northwest Montana. Finding work was difficult. To make ends meet, I took a job painting signs. When I wasn't holding a brush, I began teaching myself how to write songs and play guitar beside the clear, rolling rivers in the Rocky Mountain shadows. Thus began my lifelong endeavor to be a folksinger.” - Chad Elliott
Nearly 30 years have passed since those first songs sprang to life. Now, Midwest singer-songwriter Chad Elliott blends folk roots, swampy blues and soulful writing to deliver music that is unmistakably original. His live performances have been honed over 25 years on the road performing more than 200 shows each year.
Elliott is lauded as “Iowa’s Renaissance man” by Culture Buzz Magazine. He has penned more than 2,000 songs in his career while also cultivating his skills as a painter, sculptor and illustrator at Elliott Art Studio in Jefferson, IA. Elliott is also an author (Wilderman’s Treetop Tales; Rumble & Flash).
“That man’s music is as honest as was Woody Guthrie’s.” - Atesh Sonneborn, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Elliott has worked with many of the best folk-blues songwriters and shared the stage with artists of the highest caliber, including Odetta, Tom Paxton, Loudon Wainwright III, R.L. Burnside, Greg Brown, Ruthie Foster, Verlon Thompson, Jimmie Vaughan, Bo Ramsey and Mary Gauthier.
Through the years, Elliott has been influenced by many genres of music. This passion is reflected in his diverse recording projects. Elliott released his 22nd album, Rest Heavy: The Sun Studio Sessions, in 2018. Greg Brown said of the new album, it’s “low, loose and full of juice. This album’s got a lot of life to it.”
With Rest Heavy, Elliott shows his love of roots-rock, soul, and blues music with a rocking band behind his artfully crafted songs and gravelly delivery. Elliott, performing on acoustic guitar and harmonica, is joined by his full band, The Redemptions, including Tommy Lewis, Travis McFarlane, Kevin Boehnke, Joseph Cafaro, and Jim Van Dorn. The self-produced album was recorded at the famed Sun Studio in Memphis, TN by Ples Hampton. Hampton said, “It was honestly one of the best sessions I've ever had up here. This is gold.”
In November 2019 Elliott released King Pelican. This album holds 8 tracks recorded live with his band, The Redemptions, during a set for The Sun Studio Sessions documentary series featured on PBS. The entire album delivers the goods. It is a colorful album including songs such as the title track, a fun New Orleans-style number about a ne'er-do-well character, and "Paris," which would make Humphrey Bogart shed a tear. King Pelican was released Nov. 3, 2019.
Elliott’s 24th studio album, Tangle with the Ghost, is a rich collection of Americana roots songs. It was recorded alongside other Iowa artists at Old School Studios in Auburn, IA with producer/artist Todd Partridge. The record is sonically diverse. Each track is like a painting or vignette reckoning with the dark night of the soul. “Sometimes you must do the things that frighten you the most. That’s why I still tangle with the ghost,” Elliott sings on the title track. Tangle with the Ghost was released in November 2020.
Chad Elliott released his 25th album, Singing River, on May 17, 2021. He traveled to Muscle Shoals, AL with famed Iowa musician and producer Bo Ramsey to lay the tracks. Singing River was recorded at FAME Recording Studios, where music legends Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and many others laid renowned songs into the fabric of time. Ramsey, who produced Singing River, lent his signature sound on guitar. He was joined by two original Muscle Shoals Swampers, Spooner Oldham and David Hood. The new Americana/roots/blues mix that arose in Singing River is exactly the sound Elliott was hoping to create.
With 26 albums under his belt, Elliott's writing is highly respected among his peers of fellow songwriters. His songs have won multiple awards. (Woody Guthrie Song Contest, Kerrville NewFolk, 3rd Place International Songwriting Competition, International Blues Challenge Semi-finalist). Elliott released his 26th album, Untested Wings, in 2024. In addition, he will be inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame class of 2025.
Along with his solo concerts, Elliott performs as part of the folk duo Weary Ramblers. Kathryn Severing Fox, a celebrated string player, is the second part of this duo. Weary Ramblers released their debut album in 2024. It held the #1 Contemporary Folk album for 7 weeks on the Roots Music Report. Three songs from the album made it into the top 10 of the Contemporary Folk chart including, "Sweet Hazel Green," "Medicine Creek," and "Pretty Lights of Denver."
You may also like the following events from Chad Elliott:
Also check out other
Music events in Saint Charles,
Entertainment events in Saint Charles,
Arts events in Saint Charles.
