Hot off the heels of the first single “Be When Done” John Ellis has released the second single off of his African blues album Native. The music video was shot in a pond in KZN, Durban by Andre Swart and premiered 6 July 2022 on You Tube.
“Be When Done” (which was written by John Ellis) features John Ellis on guitar and vocals, David ‘Qadasi’ Jenkins on Zulu concertina and Barry van Zyl on percussion. Native is the fifth full-length studio album from the South African singer-songwriter.
More info about John Ellis
The ex-Tree63 front-man has been on an extended hiatus from music since 2015, and has not written or released new music since the delayed releases of Tells and Growing Silent, his two 2017 albums which both contained older unreleased material.
Native is an album of modern South African blues songs. Inspired by some of the experiments conducted during the 2011 recording of his “Rural” album, John recorded “Native” with a wide variety of South African musical collaborators. The songs draw on traditional early blues forms for their inspiration and feature some of the traditional sounds of South African music.
Native was recorded in Durban in 2021 and features musical contributions from David ‘Qadasi’ Jenkins, Maqhinga Radebe, Johnny Clegg drummer Barry van Zyl, Burton Naidoo, members of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladysmith Black Mambazo percussionist Njabulo Shabalala and Beeskraal concertina maestro Regardt de Bruin, amongst others.
Watch the video for “Rather Be Done” below:
You can buy / stream Native HERE.
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