Wyatt Ellis with his Momentum Award at World of Bluegrass 2024
Born not far from the Great Smoky Mountains, teen mandolinist Wyatt Ellis was influenced by his Tennessee locale early on. His initial introduction to the instrument was through Bobby Osborne’s iconic solo on the Osborne Brothers’ classic, Rocky Top. He was so inspired, he was determined to learn the instrument, making it a priority over sports, Boy Scouts, and many other childhood pursuits. With the advent of the pandemic, opportunities to play live came to an abrupt end, but it also offered Ellis an opportunity to explore possibilities gained by learning online from many of his mentors.
In the fall of 2020, another of his heroes, Sierra Hull, sponsored him for a Tennessee Folklife apprenticeship. Two years later, in October 2022, Ellis performed with the legendary Peter Rowan and Grammy winner Molly Tuttle at Rowan’s induction into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. He was also invited by his ultimate hero, Marty Stuart, to help kick off the grand-reopening of the Ellis Theater (no relation) in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He was only 13 years old when he made his Grand Ole Opry debut with Dailey & Vincent, and practically simultaneously he found himself jamming backstage with Vince Gill and Mark O’Connor. In March 2023, he shared a stage with Billy Strings at an event honoring Doc Watson at a 100th birthday celebration for the legendary flatpicker. This past Labor Day, he took part in the third annual Earl Scruggs Music Festival at Tryon International in North Carolina where he was given a both solo set and an opportunity to perform with others.
Ellis’ debut album, Happy Valley, has received rave reviews and features an impressive array of special guests, among them, Marty Stuart, Alan Bibey, Scott Napier, Sierra Hull, and any number of others. Ellis had a hand in writing all the songs while also adding the fiddle to his musical arsenal. Now, at age 14, he can claim the distinction of performing at the Grand Ole Opry multiple times, and being counted as among bluegrass music’s most promising prodigies.
He’s also one of the busiest. “I’ve been up to just about everything,” he told us recently. “On Sunday, the day after I play the Earl Scruggs Festival, I’m opening up for Marty Stuart in Wilmington, North Carolina. I’ve done a little bit of recording in the past month, and just having a lot of fun. This past week, I played at the Opry. I’ve played it three times under my own name, and probably ten times with Daily & Vincent. It’s just something I really enjoy doing.”
It seems to have been that way from the start. “I picked up the mandolin during the pandemic, and I studied with a bunch of my heroes and just did all I could to soak it up,” he recalls. “I think that’s how I was able to get such a quick start. But I never dreamed I’d be doing all this. I’m just always ready for what’s next, and just trying to keep going while also trying to stay true to traditional bluegrass music and the roots of it all. I think that’s important — bringing more bluegrass to more people. Like I said, I got to connect with so many great musicians during the pandemic, when everybody was stuck at home, and I wrote tunes with them and decided to try to make an album. I reached out to Marty when I wrote him a letter, and asked if he’d play on the album. Then I went down to Mississippi and helped open up his Ellis Theater. Then after that, he said he would do it. And so here we are.”
At first, the connection seemed so simple. Then again, his learning curve had come quickly.
“The first time I met Marty was at the Bijou theater in Knoxville,” Ellis recalled. “I was in front row wearing a Bill Monroe tee shirt, so that helped attract his attention. He gave me his pic after the show, and that was just a cool moment. That’s the first time we met. That’s what’s so great about the bluegrass community, that that’s what tends to happen. Plus Marty and Bobby Osborne all had great advice. Bobby said to always go back to the roots of the music first, before you branch out. Learn newer versions or newer things, but learn the roots first. I found that to be great advice. When you learn like that, you’re able to write better tunes.”
Indeed, it was the influences Ellis absorbed early on that inspired him at the age of ten, and four years later, they drive him still.
“I remember when I first heard Rocky Top,” he recalls. “Then after that, I heard Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers, and Jimmy Martin, and all those guys. And then that led to newer stuff. I think a lot of people start the other way around, and start with the newer stuff. I started with the older stuff, and worked my way forward.”
The word “work” seems to be an understatement. At age 14, he’s about to enter tenth grade while being home schooled, but unlike most kids his age who take time over the summer to relax and have fun, Ellis is always working. “We’re playing shows almost every weekend during the summer, and a few things here and there during the week,” he explained. “It’s just still really enjoyable. School’s really not that bad. I do it over the course of a full year, so it makes it a little bit easier to deal with.”
He also has an able band to support him. “It kind of fluctuates around a little bit who’s in it, but I’m always playing with my band when I’m playing places pretty much,” he said. “It mostly has Gibson Davis on the banjo, Alex Leach on guitar, Sarah Griffin on bass, and Christian Ward on the fiddle. That changes around a little bit, like at the Earl Scruggs fest when I had Christopher Henry on guitar.”
Ellis goes on to say that the material on the new album dates back a couple of years. “I wrote these songs when I was 11, recorded them when I was 12 and 13, and we put it out when I was 14,” he explained. “So that’s kind of the timeline. Danny Roberts, who is the first person I really started writing tunes with, and I tried to weed it down to the ones we thought were best.”
Along the way, the musicians made some daring moves. Twin mandolins are heard on the song Grassy Cove, while the tune titled Two Rivers Waltz finds Ellis actually playing Vassar Clements’ fiddle. Several songs — chief among them, Maryville, Goin’ to Townsend, Little Pigeon, and the title track, name-drop the East Tennessee region where he was raised, and the environs he still calls home. “A lot of songs take ten minutes, and others could take an hour, or something like that,” he mused. “Many were inspired by traditional bluegrass. A lot of those original guys named their songs after local landmarks.”
The album finds him spreading his wings musically as well, initiating his effort to not only excel on mandolin, but also to take up fiddle, guitar, piano, and especially singing. In that regard, he added that he’s already started to think about his next project.
“There’ll be more of like a vocal focus in the future,” he surmised. “I started singing just about a year or two after I started playing. And then I got with Paul Brewster, and he really inspired me to start singing. After that, I just got into singing more and more. I sang at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time last year, and I’ve sung there a bunch of times since.”
Not surprisingly, when asked if he had any advice for other aspiring young artists, he came straight to the point. “I would just say that one piece of advice that was told to me,” he said. “That is, go back and learn from the roots of the music, and then branch out from there. I think that’s the biggest thing. That’ll help you to write and do anything you want to do.”
