Michael Donato	bass guitar
Bill Finlay	guitar, mandolin, harmonica, vocals
Rebecca Vlam	vocals, guitar
Stephen Vlam	guitar, fiddle, mandolin, vocals

Ellis Reed is a fusion of old time country - blues - jazz - singer/songwriter - folk music that deconstructs the things we are and feel into a nice 3-5 minute package of sound, soul, and thought.

Ellis Reed formed in mid 2004. After some searching, nudging, and some downright scowling, the name "ellis reed" was chosen because we liked the sound of the name as well as having a mythical member to channel and occasionaly blame. 

In 2005 we recorded our demo/CD which we called Still Life. Thanks to this CD, we were selected by Radio Volta's "Kinetic Cuts" show as one of their top picks of 2005.

2006 was good to us. We were fortunate to appear on Gene Shay's WXPN Folk Show as well as radio stations and webcasts too onerous to mention. We also were fortunate to add festivals to our list of appearances. These festivals included the Bloomfield Harvest Festival, Collingswood Music Festival, The Fairmount Arts Crawl and the 1st Acoustic Philly Festival.

In 2007 we added to our catalog of original songs as well as adding some new instruments. We began working on our first full length CD with a working title "BarbaraLand" (thanks Cindy).  We value our friendships with other bands in the area as well as the "AcousticPhilly" group of performers.

2008 has been a year of working on the new album as well as some new songs such as "Diane Dress" and "Sweet Mystery".  We have decided to add a drummer (or hand percussionist)  (if you know anybody, drop us a line).  The CD release party will be in November  (of 2008) .

Ellis Reed's musical influences are diverse and we try to incorporate all of our musical past in our songs. The members have had long experience in various bands playing bluegrass, heavy metal, urban contemporary, spiritual, rock and plenty of other styles we have encountered in jams,  parties, festivals, and retreats.

Ellis Reed currently has over two hours of available material consisting largely of originals, but we throw in a few old favorites too. We hope to see you out there in the future.

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