Curtis Eller

News & Updates

Album Reviews

Independent Clauses named A Poison Melody as one of their top-ten albums of 2019! “How is it that A Poison Melody is so sweet? Curtis Eller’s American Circus throws down a full orchestration of his view of the world, complete with banjo and brass. Stunning seems trite when considering this politically charged statement set to music. Eller and his band create simply defiant artistry. Charged with an energy that is part of the chaos of our times, the music winds through generations of social and political struggle in a jazz-blues fusion.” Red the full list online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐IndyWeek gives four stars to A Poison Melody! “What might have happened if Howard Zinn had abandoned academe to update Americana styles of yesteryear with a dose of punk. About half of the ten original songs satirize a range of distinctly unrepentant characters who are blind drunk on the privileges of class, race, and wealth.” Read the full review online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Americana UK says, “This is wild stuff, the sort of thing you would stumble upon in a tent in a back field at Glastonbury, populated by outsiders making music for themselves and somehow inviting you into their glorious hedonism. It is ribald and righteous.” in their seven-star review of A Poison Melody! Read the full review online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Rebel Noise calls A Poison Melody “an achingly beautiful tune with a little explanation of the darkness to be found in any corner of one’s favourite song” in Ian Kearey’s five-star review of the new album! Read the full review online HERE

Houdini Mansion posted a rave review of A Poison Melody! “A slick presentation of sleazy, pool hall ragtime music with enough anacronistic folk trappings to bedazzle any passer by with its burlesque thrust.” Read the full review HERE

Another glowing review of A Poison Melody from Music Tap! “Eller is still painting sound-portraits of a mixed-up world where the old and the new intermingle like so many drunks at a funeral, right before the mess of it all pours right into the streets. Your mission here is clear, dear reader: join the rumpus.” Read the full review online HERE.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Five star review for A Poison Melody from Northern Sky. “The vibrancy of Eller’s engaging performances are enhanced at every step along the way by the soaring punch of Steve Cowles’ tenor sax, Danny Grewen’s trombone and Danny Abrams’ baritone sax, or Tom Merrigan’s smokey blues piano on Pay the Band, not to mention Dana Marks and Stacy Wolfson’s alluring vocals, which effectively weave the soul into all the right places.”

Read what the Spanish are saying about A Poison Melody in this great review from Barcelona’s Cabaret de Medianoche! “Pese a el cambio de instrumentación, pese al reconocible y constante banjo de Eller, y la adhesión de nuevos instrumentos, el estilo de Curtis Eller y su American Circus está siempre presente. El estilo no desaparece. Siempre sabes que estás en la buena dirección.” Read the full review online HERE.

Even the Dutch dig the new album! Here Comes the Flood posted this glowing review of A Poison Melody. “one of those extremely rare acts who can mix politics and fun and find a perfect balance between the two. Alan Lomax would have loved them…” Read the full review online HERE.

The first advance review of A Poison Melody has landed! Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ gives the record 10 stars! “This new album is the finest thing he has done so far. It’s like a series of illustrated warnings against the madness we can see right now on both sides of the North Atlantic and either side of the equator.” Read the full review online HERE.