Grace Canterbury | Arts & Culture Editor | gcanterbury@mail.smcvt.edu
William Lee Ellis, chair of Fine Arts: professor of Music, sees teaching as a continuous journey of growth—for both himself and his students. “Every class I teach is a chance to get better at being me and a chance to spark something in my students,” he said. The relationships he builds with his students, many of whom are the same age as his daughter, keep him grounded. “Watching my daughter grow up while teaching students her age—it keeps me young.”
Ellis’s passion for music took root at a young age. His father, Tony Ellis, was a banjo player for Bill Monroe, and the Blue Grass Boys. Monroe is commonly known as the Father of Bluegrass. “Well, I grew up in a musical household, so my dad played a banjo for Bill Monroe. He was a bluegrass boy back in the early 60s, made four records with Monroe. And when I was born, Monroe was actually my godfather,” Ellis said. His father’s career opened many remarkable opportunities that allowed Ellis to immerse himself into the music industry. “I grew up hearing my dad play bluegrass, and on weekends, he would drag me off to where he would go meet with friends like Tommy Gerald or George Pegram, all these great old-timey players. And, you know, I’m young. I didn’t think anything out at the time. Now I’m thinking like, oh, had I had a tape recorder there that would be sick, if only. So I just kind of took it for granted,” Ellis said.
Ellis attended college at Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he planned to major in chemical engineering. “I got a full tuition scholarship, went down there and was going to go down there and major in chemical engineering, and I met the classical guitarist up in the lofts of the building, and he said, come here to the dark side. And I ended up majoring in music, classical guitar. So, I studied classical guitar intently for the better part of eight years of my life,” Ellis said.
College served as a transformative period, which he said deepened his passion for music, immersing himself in both performance and study. At the same time, it broadened his horizons, allowing him to explore new interests and develop a more well-rounded appreciation for diverse fields beyond music. “At Kentucky, Wesleyan, very much like St. Mike’s, a strong liberal arts education, where your major, in my case, music was part of it. But then I had the breadth and depth of other courses that I got to explore, courses on Shakespeare and other things that stayed with me, religious studies, and so it was great,” Ellis said.
Ellis continued his musical education, receiving his master’s in classical guitar, at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. “At the conservatory, you’re very focused. You’re there to do one thing, get better on your instrument and be a more proficient musician. To be able to perform, talk, write, about, critique, and analyze music. So it was living and breathing the classical guitar for the better part of five years, lots of performances, recitals, group recitals, solo recitals, chamber recitals, playing, playing, playing. But it was what it was, a very intense, wonderful experience, which kind of got me serious about being a musician,” Ellis said.
After this part of his education, Ellis ventured to Tokyo, Japan, where he was a music journalist for The Japan Times and The Daily Yomiuri while also working as an English professor at two universities and the YMCA. “When I was in Japan, I was writing music criticism. I was playing music on the weekends in a really bad rock and roll band, and then, you know, reviewing a lot of bands, interviewing bands. So then I was able to carve out a career for part of my life as a music journalist,” Ellis said.
In 2000, while still in Japan, Ellis solo released his first albums, The Full Catastrophe and Conqueroo. In 2003, Full Catastrophe, the album composed of 16 songs, would be released nationally and include additional tracks that featured Memphis music legends, Paul Burlison, Jim Dickinson, as well as his father, Tony Ellis. “I had no idea what the hell I was doing. But you learn as you go,” Ellis said.
Ellis’s time in Japan offered him a fresh perspective on music, immersing him in intimate and unforgettable experiences that few have the privilege to encounter. “It was great, because I got to experience grunge in Japan. So I was there in Japan when grunge was sitting in America. And Soundgarden, everybody’s playing, you know, 10,000-seat arenas, and I’m covering them at 150-seat intimate concert venues. You know, seeing Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and all these great bands. It was insane. It was, it was, good fun,” Ellis said.
After Japan, Ellis returned to the state, where he continued his career as a journalist and musician. In 1996, he was hired at the Memphis Commercial Appeal as a music beat writer/critic. “I joined the Commercial Appeal, a Scripps Howard daily during my tenure, in May 1996 as its music writer. I flew in from Japan, where I had lived for five and a half years, on a steamy hot Delta Saturday evening and went to work that Monday, sleeping on a colleague’s couch for the first month until I found a place to rent,” Ellis said. His journey as a writer was anything but easy. “I got the gig in part because I had been writing for The Japan Times and Daily Yomiuri during my time in Japan, but nothing prepared me for the tiring and often exhilarating daily grind of a local paper,” said Ellis.
During his time there, Ellis interviewed countless musicians, including Billy Joel, Three 6 Mafia, Robert Plant and Jerry Lee Lewis. Ellis also covered numerous concerts at the annual Memphis in May celebration, which hosted performers such as Bob Dylan, Foo Fighters and Sheryl Crow. “Truly, I was in Memphis at a time when musical giants walked the earth. I could not be more blessed. Though in fairness, I had my share of less than stellar interviews, none more so than a call early in my career with Sting, my inexperience got the best of me,” Ellis said.
His experience at the Memphis Commercial Appeal was memorable and impactful. His career in journalism formed connections that would remain in his life. “My first two phone calls were from Sun Records founder/producer/label owner Sam Phillips (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, et al.) and pianist/producer Jim Dickinson (the Rolling Stones, the Replacements, Big Star, et al.) – two of my musical heroes who soon became not only regular contacts but valued friends,” Ellis said.
Ellis experienced numerous remarkable moments during his time in Memphis. “A Saturday spent with Sam Phillips in a Cadillac ride down Highway 61 to hear Ike Turner; dinners with Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones or Warren Zevon with Steve Cohen that included an unexpected visit from Cybill Shepherd; and sitting at Al Green’s dining room table where four Bibles were spread out while he prepared his Sunday sermon. Did I say I was blessed?” said Ellis.
In 2005, Ellis stepped away from the newspaper to pursue a Ph.D. in Musicology and Southern Regional Studies at the University of Memphis. His 783-page dissertation, “I Belong to the Band: The Music of Reverend Gary Davis,” won the Graduate Document Award for best dissertation, University of Memphis.
After finishing his education, Ellis found his way to St. Michael’s. “I got my degree in 2010, and I applied to a few places. And St. Mike’s answered the call. Little did they know what they were in for,” Ellis said. Here, Ellis has been able to continue his passion for creating music while also bringing about this same love in members of the St. Michael’s community.
River Hartley, ’22, a former student of Ellis, remembers him as one of the first people she connected with on campus. “Bill was one of the first people I met when I went to St. Mike’s, and I think we just started talking about guitar,” Hartley said. “I was always really drawn to how talented of a musician he was, and like, the history he had as a musician and a journalist, which is pretty incredible.”
Their connection deepened through one-on-one guitar lessons, and over time, Hartley began nudging Ellis to return to recording. “He kept sort of dismissing the idea that he would ever record music again,” Hartley said, “which basically, you know, got me to say, like, ‘Okay, I’m here for the summer. Let’s record an album.’” After months of casually offering, “If you ever want to make an album, I’m happy to do it, like I have the gear for it,” Ellis finally agreed to record an album with her. What followed was an unexpected and transformative project—recorded entirely in her Canterbury dorm room with just $500 of gear. “He really just, like, put a ton of trust in me, which is really incredible, especially when I was in college,” Hartley said. “He knew I had heard his music. He knew I was familiar with the genre and the style.”
That trust extended to the classroom as well. “He always listens to everyone—really listens—which I guess is unusual,” Hartley said. “Often what he’s saying is, show me what you’re going to do. Make art. I’ll listen to it.” One class presentation even included Ellis playing the My Chemical Romance video for I’m Not Okay to the class. “He was just, like, completely understanding that it had artistic value. Even though it was like the most off-the-rails presentation you’ve ever seen.”
Once it was released, the dorm room album, titled Ghost Hymns, received positive reviews from the music industry and was nominated for several awards including, Acoustic Album of the Year in 2024 Blues Music Awards. “All of a sudden, this thing I was making in my dorm room became like a real professional work that the world was seeing and looking at.” That experience launched her career. “It really set my direction in life. I run a recording studio now.” Reflecting on her college years, Hartley added, “My experience at St. Mike’s was not all positive, I will say. But Bill was one of the really amazing and important things about this college for me—and he really made going to St. Mike’s worth it.”
In October of last year, Ellis released his new album, Long Nights, which according to Yellow Dog Record, “offers a blues, gospel, and ragtime-infused companion to his Blues Music Awards-nominated Ghost Hymns.” Ellis’s Yellow Dog Records career is composed of five albums; The Full Catastrophe, Conqueroo, God’s Tattoos, Ghost Hymns, and Long Nights. The album Full Catastrophe, released in August of ‘03, was declared one of the year’s best albums according to The Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll. Ellis shares, “I’ve played professionally my whole life, but I’ve managed to sell, you know, hundreds of records in the industry. I mean, I’m not a big name. That’s okay. I’ve been on a wonderful label for the last 20 years.– That’s great for someone who doesn’t play, which is pretty amazing, actually, but I managed to find other things to do to satisfy that musical urge.”
Ellis has a profound respect for the diverse expressions of art, particularly self-taught visual work. “That’s my other career. Writing, curating, critiquing and collecting, self-taught art. That’s a real passion of mine,” Ellis said. This interest is deeply personal, rooted in family history. His great-grandmother was a southern painter who primarily worked in oil and watercolor. “So those sorts of, you know, beauty in all its forms, music, visual art has always taken a hold of my life,” Ellis said.
Despite his wide-ranging artistic interests, music remains central to his identity. “Music was always just, it was a given that music is just part of what you do as a person, as a human being, with a family.–music can be entertaining, but it, it’s very life essence to me,–I can’t imagine life without music, without being able to be creative within music. So, there was never a moment where I wasn’t going to do this,” Ellis said.
At St. Michael’s, Ellis has been a member of the fine arts department for 14 years. He teaches and engages with many courses; music theory, history of rock & roll, history of jazz, history of gospel, freshman and junior seminars, song writing, reading and writing about music, private lessons, and topics of musicology. “Whatever the department needs, pretty much so. And I’ve been chair of the fine arts department, fourth, fifth year now,” Ellis said.
Ellis’s career has taken many unexpected turns, shaped by a mix of chance, persistence, and a willingness to follow his instincts. “Everything in my life has been weirdly fortuitous,” he said. “I go to undergraduate school thinking I’m gonna do one thing, and I end up doing another. It’s just sort of following that inner voice.” Throughout his journey, Ellis has faced moments of doubt and self-questioning. “What hasn’t been a setback? There’s no reason I should be here doing what I’m doing—as a musician, as an academic,” Ellis shared. “But it’s also been a result of me just believing in myself, even when that’s hard. I can’t play the guitar, I can’t sing, I can’t write—there are all these things I can’t do, and yet, I’ve done them all.”
Despite internal doubts and external challenges, Ellis continues to pursue his work with quiet determination. “The thing that has always struck me about Bill is that he’s always believed everyone is incredibly capable,” Hartley said. At St. Michael’s, Ellis brings this mix of realism, resilience, and reflection into the classroom, offering students not only his expertise but a lived example of the unpredictable nature of creative and academic paths.