Robert Ellis at the 443 – Syracuse, NY

Recorded live to tape in just two days, Robert Ellis’s exquisite new album, Yesterday’s News, is as stripped-down as it gets, with the celebrated songwriter and producer’s delicate, reedy tenor accompanied only by nylon string guitar, upright bass, and the occasional piece of handheld percussion. The arrangements are harmonically sophisticated here, drawing on the open tunings and intricate fingerpicking of English songwriters like Nick Drake or Richard Thompson, and Ellis’s performances are similarly subtle and nuanced, tapping into the bittersweet longing of Chet Baker and the playful poignancy of Bill Evans and Jim Hall.

While that might seem surprising coming off 2019’s raucous Texas Piano Man, subverting expectations is nothing new for Ellis. Born and raised outside Houston, he gained early acclaim for his piercing introspection and absorbing narratives, but over the course of five solo albums, he flirted with everything from Paul Simon and John Prine to Elton John and Joni Mitchell in a series of sonic and visual transformations that ran the gamut from Redneck Steely Dan to Lone Star Liberace. NPR hailed his “musical daring and impeccable songcraft,” while Rolling Stone praised his “sharp eye for storytelling,” and the New York Times lauded his writing as an emotional “gut punch.”

Yesterday’s News marks Ellis’s debut LP for Niles City Records, an outgrowth of the famed Niles City Sound studio he and longtime collaborator Josh Block run in Fort Worth, TX.

HOUSE RULES:

• The 443 has a $15 per person/seat required minimum purchase for our shows, which can be any combination of food and drink.
• If your party (or part of it) does not show up, the ticket buyer will be charged $40 per person. Please let us know if you’re not coming at least 24 hours before the show to avoid this charge.
• The 443 is an 18+ venue
• No outside food or drink allowed.
• Ticket limit: 3 tables for two or 6 single seats.
• Be respectful to the artist on stage and considerate to your neighbors – put your phone away, limit your conversation, and plan to be settled in your seats before the show starts.

TICKET OPTIONS:

We have 3 tiers of ticket options:

Tier 1 – (YELLOW) – Most expensive tickets. Regular height ables for two and single barstools at the bar.

Tier 2 – (BLUE) – Mid-priced tickets. High and low tables for two with excellent sight lines – particularly the high tables.

Tier 3 – (LAVENDER) – Least expensive tickets. Two low tables for two (15 & 16), plus (potentially shared) high tables for single attendees (25, 26, 27)

Green squares/circles on the floor plan are bar-height tables, orange squares are regular-height tables.

* If anyone in your party needs special seating arrangements – walker, cane, service animal, wheelchair, or low table requirement – please email us after you place your order. *