"It's good to know this songwriting tradition
is continuing full-force through Ensle."
-Texas Monthly Magazine
 

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Thursday, January 31st
George Ensle Day in Austin, Texas!
January 31, 2008 was proclaimed
George Ensle Day in Austin, Texas
by Mayor Will Wynn


Friday, Feburary1st

Fox 7 News: Good Day Austin
Click to Watch Video

NEW Album Release
LIVE SET
Recorded at KUT

George's photo has been included in the new Texas Troubadours photo journal by: Steve Harris published by: The University of Texas Press. "Genuine and soulful portraits"

www.UTexasPress.com
800-252-3206

 
Photo By: Susan Roads
In his live show he fingerpicks his 1972 Martin D-35 with a unique style and deftness that comes from years of honing his craft. He gives the listener a show they come away form with a smile, sharing stories he paints of real people making it in the real world.
George Ensle is a painter of songs. Sometimes he uses broad strokes to paint hilltop sunsets, tree lined rivers, and mountain ranges, and sometimes he paints with fine strokes the portraits of everyday people, the unsung heroes he captures in song.
Real characters like Uncle Jack, the crusty old bachelor who gets a little bit too tight at times, but is still a kid's best friend, tucking him in on the sofa summer Saturday nights.
Characters like the housewife who dances in the kitchen to a golden oldie after her kids and husband have gone for the day, and the circuit preacher who drives a dusty old black Ford, baptizing in the middle of the river of love and understanding, and the father singing a long distance lullaby, and the widow in her parlor who lives across the street in a state of grace, and the mother who sings her children to sleep beside a tiny fire, beneath a third world moon, and the troubadour (Ensle's amigo) Townes Van Zandt, with lines cut deep around his smile, who's ragged as the wind and pure as the snow.
For these troubled times, Ensle captures the human condition with characters who inspire us to carry on, to look with compassion on others, to understand our commonality.
Ensle paints with the brush of hope.


"LIVE SET"
Review by Lucky Boyd

I love one-take albums and here's a good one. No need to spend months with the works in the can waiting for countless over-caffeinated reassessments at the mixing board softly killing the original intent of the art. George Ensle and the Groove Angels Ensemble walk into a radio station studio and put it all on the line with Austin, Texas listening. The result is an album that has every instrument inflection still in tact, each tiny faux pax in place, every groove preserved. Like a master's painting, each crack of drying paint becoming character and defying critique, one-take albums are for all of us to hear the chemistry of the musicians without the distraction of a crowd. Live albums are different in that we get to hear the musicians feeding off the energy of the crowd. I like a good one-take album because I can hear the groove being hit by the collective souls of the musicians, synergistically creating something that was never there before, and not requiring induced energy created by spectators. Ensle and the GAE conjure the groove on almost every cut of this release, and when they hit it, you can feel it. It's there on the opening cut "Uncle Jack" and you'll hear it throughout the album. The project has many attributes and is a worthy release showing a great deal of the softer side of George Ensle with poignant ballads as well as a couple of nice toe-tappers. Ensle's writing is solid, as expected. Greg Lowry's dobro and Greg Whitfield's guitar steal the instrumental spotlight. The highlight of the disc is one you might have to sit down for. Sit down, put on some headphones and play "The Troubadour" at a moderate level. Imagine the singer has recently ingested a performance-altering amount of vodka and the room is smoky and dim. Imagine the rhythms going softly off beat now and then and a couple of subtle time signature changes. Imagine Wrecks Bell on bass and Mickey White on lead guitar. Imagine just coming in out of the hot Houston air, stepping into the hallowed confines of the original Old Quarter. Now listen, and you'll hear Ensle as he channels the very soul of Townes Van Zandt. For a second, if you listen very close, you might hear Townes singing along.

Website By: Deft Solutions, Sharla Ensle