My name is Elli. And I make music.

I hail from Atlanta Georgia, though I've been known to wander quite a bit with a suitcase under my arm or in the back of my car. I am well suited to uncomfortable places and situations. I write frequently in bars and parks and airplanes and hotel rooms. I am the fortunate offspring of two writers, so I suppose my intended vocation was somewhat inevitable. My father lulled me to sleep with songs by The Beatles every night when I was a little girl. When I was about seven, I started carrying around a little hand-held cassette recorder with which I would capture the little melodies and words that appeared in my head. When I was about twelve, I started carrying around a guitar. I still do that. I like large rings, old keys, well-played guitars, dark beer, whiskey, airports, skinny boys, Elliott Smith, good books, hotels, my family, and unlimited supplies of pens and paper.

When I was 14 I release my first 3 song demo. It wound up on Atlanta's 99X, and I was subsequently invited to play at their Unplugged In The Park Concert series. I blushed the entire time. After my first year of high school, I decided I was more interested in music than academia. I left. I managed to earn a diploma from home. And I recorded my first full length CD called "A Beautiful Chaos." A couple years later, I decided that I was more interested in academia than music. So I put away my guitar, and I went to college. I studied art history. I painted. My fingers, calloused from years of playing six strings, became stained with charcoal. It was fun, but it didn't last. A couple years later, I decided that I was more interested in music than academia. So I left college, and I pulled my guitar back out.

I write- even if it only turns into a few lines- everyday. In the fall of 2007, I wrote a new record. I wasn't really aware that this was happening as I was writing it. This whole new body of work appeared in about three months. And that's really what it was... a body. An entity all its own. Not a single one of the songs could exist without the others. They all work and breathe together to form... well, something resembling the person I've become. And I kinda like it.

I recorded these songs in the first 6 months of 2008 in Atlanta and Los Angeles. The majority of the work was done in Atlanta. It was produced by a lovely man named Danny Howes (formerly the lead guitarist for The Tender Idols, most recently a producer for the likes of Tim Brantley and The Modern Society), my phenomenal drummer Torin Degnats, and myself. The songs recorded in Los Angeles were produced by Jesse Astin, an incredible musician and songwriter functioning under the moniker Like Clockwork, a superb producer, and my very best friend. This record was a labor of true, deep love. It was also a hell of a lot of fun to make.

In honor of the obstacles (both personal and professional) I conquered to be able to make this record, I decided to name it "The Secret To Scaling A Mountain." It's about love, it's about loss, it's about me, it's about you, it's about my family, it's about my life. It's about optimism. Some people have called it a blues record. I think there's
truth to that. I've received lots of other really lovely and flattering comparisons. But I think I'll let you have a listen and decide for yourself.

"The Secret To Scaling A Mountain," will be finished and mixed and mastered and tweaked and packaged and such in the fall of 2008. It will be released shortly thereafter. I have been traveling around from bars to clubs to parks from town to town playing these songs for people over the last few months. For the past year I have performed as a duo with Torin Degnats, the percussive mastermind mentioned above. Recently, we've been honored and humbled to add the immense talent of Bryan Gibson, cellist extraordinaire (and cellist for the group I Nine) not only to the new record but to our band. We love to play. We love to travel. We would love to play some tunes for you.

A list of some pretty cool things I've done recently follows:
-I've headlined shows at some of Atlanta's finest venues, like Smith's Olde Bar and Eddie's Attic
-I've opened for one of my all time favorite songwriters, Kevn Kinney (of Drivin' N Cryin' fame) and The Madison Square Gardeners in New York City
-I've opened up for Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses, a fine group of young men who know a thing or two about the blues (and recently proved it on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno)
-I've traveled around the Southeast where I've been honored to play with some incredibly talented musicians including Pete and J, Steven Fiore, Haley Shaw, Will West, and many, many more
-I performed at the Atlantis Music Conference in 2007 and 2008, and The Peach Drop New Years Eve Celebration at Underground Atlanta
-I've worked on a collaborative record to be release at the end of 2008 called "That's Called Going For It!" with some supremely talented folks including Jesse Astin (Like Clockwork), Mike Hardin (When Rocky Beat The Russian), Lou Rodriguez (One Hand Loves The Other), Pose Manikin, and countless others
-I wandered the streets of Europe playing for all who would listen
-I played for a sea of people on the steps of Sacre Coeur in Paris, where you could hear the applause echoing off the church and ringing down into the tiny streets of Montmartre

A new and updated list of pretty cool things coming soon. I am a happy, lucky young woman. I am humbled to be able to spend my life doing the thing I love the very most.

Thank you for listening.