Tinsley Ellis has spent four decades proving that the blues isn’t a costume — it’s a calling. And on January 30, 2026, the Atlanta-based guitarist, vocalist and songwriter doubles down on that commitment with Labor Of Love, his second acoustic album for Alligator Records and the first to feature all-original material. It will be available on CD, Georgia peach-colored vinyl LP, and across all digital service providers.

The follow-up to 2024’s Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth, Labor Of Love is a self-produced, 13-song collection that strips Ellis down to his essentials: weathered voice, fingerpicked steel, and stories pulled straight from the dirt roads of the Deep South. The lead single, Hoodoo Woman, premieres today alongside a new video directed by filmmaker Troy Bieser. Ellis says the track is a tribute to a personal hero: “It’s inspired by R.L. Burnside. I did shows with R.L. here and in Europe, and his music became ingrained in my soul.”

You can hear it in every note. From the feral opener Hoodoo Woman to the John Lee Hooker-style groove of Long Time, the Skip James-inspired To A Hammer, and the Son House-style stomp of Sunnyland, Ellis isn’t paying homage so much as testifying. The album was shaped in part by a pilgrimage to Bentonia, Mississippi — the birthplace of Skip James and home of blues legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes — where Ellis hung out with Holmes and even sat in with him at the famous Blue Front Café. “Once I got home,” Ellis notes, “I went right back to the studio and incorporated everything that I just experienced into my music.”

Gearheads, take note: Ellis tracked the album using six different open tunings on his beloved 1969 Martin D-35, his 12-string Martin D-12-20, and his 1937 National Steel O Series. For the first time in his career, he also picked up the mandolin, playing it on three tracks. The result is a record that feels both ancient and immediate — gentle beauty rubbing shoulders with foot-pounding ferocity.

Critics are already lining up. Living Blues calls it “a foot-stomping, raucous good time… a joyous and triumphant celebration of acoustic music.” AllMusic praises the “glorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues,” while Blues Music Magazine notes that it’s “so genuine it seems like a long lost recording.”

Ellis, who has been crisscrossing the country on his self-deprecatingly named “Two Guitars And A Car” solo tour, plans to keep the road show going for the foreseeable future. “No matter what I play, I like to have an edge,” he says. “For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them.”

Pre-order Labor Of Love and stream Hoodoo Woman here: https://Tinsley.lnk.to/LaborofLove

Mark your calendars for January 30, 2026 — and if Ellis rolls through your town with those two guitars and that car, do yourself a favor and grab a seat up front.