New album releases from artists with East Tennessee ties

https://www.thedailytimes.com/entertainment/new-album-releases-from-artists-with-east-tennessee-ties/article_10134561-17ac-466e-9d47-357b4b31584c.html

Singer-songwriter Eli Fox also reflects the essence of East Tennessee with his aptly titled new album, “Qualified Country Gold.” A collection of rootsy, Americana-leaning songs that convey sober circumstances, the album is both moving and memorable from the outset. Originally from Knoxville and now based in Nashville, Fox draws influence from artists such as Woody Guthrie, Michael Hurley, Bob Dylan, Darrell Scott and James McMurtry, favoring a style steeped in wistful reflection.

Fox began making music as a teenager, busking on the streets of Knoxville with his first band, Subtle Clutch, before landing paid gigs around town. While those early efforts laid the groundwork, it is his solo work that has elevated his profile. Still in his mid-20s, Fox has already released two full-length albums, an EP and a string of recent singles. His performance resume includes appearances at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, Musicians Corner, the Bijou Theatre and eTown Hall, along with opening slots for Darrell Scott, Sam Bush, Emily Ann Roberts and Boy Named Banjo.

“Qualified Country Gold” further showcases his versatility, with Fox playing nearly all the instruments himself. From the compelling opener “Silver Lake” and the evocative title track to the rousing “Fool” and the deftly crafted “Want You” and “Feel Now,” his folk finesse and down-home delivery feel like a homespun homily. “Fish in the Water” celebrates the pleasures of the good life, while “It’s About You Now” completes the album’s emotional arc.

“This record felt like the most natural one I’ve made,” Fox said. “I wanted to follow what inspired me, what felt real and sounded like myself. I think it’s more honest and fired up. I don’t want to be told what to do or how to be. It’s the antithesis of a lot of my experiences playing music in Nashville, though I still find value in it. The message is that you don’t have to do things a certain way, and often it’s better when you don’t.”

Goldmine Magazine Best Americana Albums For The End Of 2025

https://www.goldminemag.com/features/best-americana-albums-for-the-end-of-2025/

It was at a relatively young age that Nashville-based and Knoxville-raised singer/songwriter Eli Fox began to ingest the influences of his rural folk and country roots and create a vibrant and distinctive Americana sound all his own. Flush with both urgency and integrity, his music offers more than a hint of anthemic acumen — a dash of Springsteen’s drive and defiance here, the edgy intent of Townes Van Zandt there and a good bit of Dylan’s authority all at the same time. It works in tandem with his own honesty and integrity and a decided deliberation that gives his music an immediate connection. The nine songs on Qualified Country Gold testify to that premise while also reflecting the timeless title borne by the album title, yet without even a hint of posturing or pretense. In a very real sense, Qualified Country Gold sets a standard of its own, and yet even though Fox is only three albums and an EP into his career, he’s already assumed the mantle of a well-established artist and auteur. This is an album that any artist ought to envy, given the ringing resolve of songs such as “Silver Lake,” “Fish In the Water,” “Blue,” and the title track itself. Fox plays practically all the instruments, further testimony to both his skills and savvy.

Album Review: Qualified Country Gold Eli Fox

https://open.substack.com/pub/phonyriceunit/p/album-review-qualified-country-gold?r=qbihw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Music can be fun and not suck. Just try telling that to the fine folks at Big Loud and you’ll get a guffaw, and be scolded for not understanding songwriting. And that should be no surprise. Though the folks along Music Row see him daily, they do not know his name is Eli Fox, and he is making music that is both meaningful and fun.

The man who penned a line as simple and deep as, “Cold coffee in Silver Lake. Six dollars, guess it must be great. Got to have a credit card to pay for cold coffee in Silver Lake,” is younger than his temperament implies. At 26, Eli Fox has now four (to this writer’s knowledge) records out, and prefers fly fishing out by the Caney Fork over Broadway. Fox is traveled, and his writing demonstrates that.

His songs are at home on a drive through Paradise Valley, on your way to notch off another National Park, or stuck in traffic after a passive aggressive email from your boss at a job that you dream of quitting. The melodies on his 9 track sojourn, “Qualified Country Gold,” are inviting, rolling off the lips of a whistler, but require some advanced knowledge of your instruments to really get under your fingers. A lifelong fan of John Hartford, it shows, but only if you’re looking for it. Fox never steals ideas, and that’s a noble pursuit in today’s world. Like a great author, he relates melodies you feel you may know, but can’t quite place, to affirm the emotions of his words. He’s a chef that makes a soup that feels like home, and yet, you know you’ve never had this exact soup before.

‘Qualified Country Gold’ is an Eli Fox album. It’s an album only he could make, and while it won’t push the dial on any iHeartMedia stations, it should. It’s music to ski to, dance to, drink to, and quite frankly, do anything except toil mindlessly over work to. The album should be on your next road trip, to remind you the observed life is well worth living.

4/5 stars because I reject perfection.

Ditty TV / Sept. 29th

https://dittytv.com/september-29th-featuring-samantha-fish-dean-owens-tom-craig-more/

Singer-songwriter Eli Fox keeps swimming against the grain of convention

https://www.thedailytimes.com/entertainment/singer-songwriter-eli-fox-keeps-swimming-against-the-grain-of-convention/article_7e7e2720-f708-11ec-a104-5f8dc2176781.html

Eli Fox From Knoxville Is An Old Soul At 18

Knoxville, located in Tennessee, was where Phil and Don Everly were discovered by Chet Atkins when they were just teens. Today, another youngster, the 18-year-old Eli Fox from the same city, is making a bit of noise

Fox is already a very accomplished instrumentalist on guitar, dobro, harmonica and I think about anything he picks up. Besides that his influences, as you will hear on this release, are people who played what they loved, such as Bob Dylan and John Hartford and maybe a touch of Hank Williams.

Actually the delivery and humour and song writing is similar to the early days of all of these artists. Tall Tales, his first long player, is well worth a visit and you may find yourself going back for a sip more often than not. Eli keeps the soul of Woody Guthrie alive for yet another generation.

I do believe we will be hearing more from this young man down the road apiece.

Yes, 2018 is in a very early stage but this is my Americana album of the year so far (even though it was released ½ a year ago)…sometimes it is just so hard to keep up!

‘It Feels Like A Calling’: Eli Fox Talks Album Release - Life As A College Musician

From a first glance, Eli Fox might seem like a normal 20-year-old college student at Belmont University. For Fox, though, his college story isn’t one that fits the normal narrative. Not only does Fox have a college school load on his plate, but he balances life in the music industry on top of it, hoping that one day the hard work will translate to a career on stage and in studios.  

Listening to Fox’s music, listeners might be refreshingly surprised to discover that his sound isn’t one that falls into an everyday genre heard today on radios and by younger artists. Fox’s passion for music was introduced to him before his teenage years, as he noted the first instrument he picked up was a banjo.  

“I started playing banjo when I was 12 and that’s kinda how I got started. I just did that for fun and eventually started a band. We would busk a lot out on the street corners and that got me into performing. A couple years later, I went off on my own and started playing my own songs I had written that I hadn’t really shared.”  

From a young kid who first picked up a banjo to now as a 20-year-old musician, Fox has grown quickly in his talents. His music can be found on iTunes and Spotify, with his live performances on Youtube. As far as instruments go, there’s not much that Fox can’t do as it’s noted on his website bio that he “plays at least 10 instruments, including but not limited to: banjo, dobro, pedal steel, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, piano, accordion, mandolin, drums and more.”  

When looking towards past and present musicians in the music industry, some of Fox’s inspirations come from names like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry to bands such as The Old Crow Medicine Show, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Creedence Clearwater Revival. His biggest inspiration, however, comes from Woody Guthrie, an influential musician in American folk music. Fox further described what connected him to Guthrie.  

“It wasn’t necessarily what he said in his songs, but how he said it really kind of connected with me,” Fox said. “Just the way he would articulate his thoughts was very interesting and it seems outdated to a lot of people, but I think a lot of his ideas are very relative to modern times.”  

 A dream opportunity came to Fox this summer when he had the opportunity to play at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. The festival, held every July, honors the life and music of Guthrie. Fox further described the experience of playing at Guthrie’s festival—a festival for the man who inspired him to write songs.  

“That’s one of the cooler things I’ve done. I got to play the Woody Guthrie Folk Fest in his hometown and that was really inspiring to do that. Felt right at home,” Fox said.  

Not only has Fox had the opportunity to play his music in the hometown of one of his biggest influences, but he’s also been able to be the opening act for another musician who inspires him greatly—singer-songwriter Darrell Scott.  

A successful country songwriter, Scott has written songs for big names such as Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Scott is another one of Fox’s biggest influences and for good reason. A Knoxville native, Fox described what it was like to play at the Bijou Theatre as Scott’s opening act.  

“The last show I did there (The Bijou) was with Darrell Scott. He’s a great songwriter/musician. It’s quite a cool venue,” Fox said “I look up to him a lot as a writer and musician/performer, so that was cool getting to share the night with him.”  

In addition to Scott, Fox has also opened up for Knoxville’s Emily Ann Roberts, country music star and 2015 finalist on NBC’s “The Voice,” as well as another 2015 “The Voice” finalist in country singer-songwriter Zach Seabaugh. Fox opened up a show for both musicians at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum.  

Speaking on the opportunities he has been given being an opening act, Fox noted why the experiences are so special.  

“Those gigs are really cool because it feels like a real, official gig versus playing down at the Wild Wing or something,” Fox said of venues like The Bijou and Knoxville Auditorium and Coliseum.  

Fox is also no stranger to Open Chord Music as he has played there with his band and has played with and opened for Emily Ann Roberts as well. Fox noted that even though they are different musically, they share similarities that make it nice to come and play together.  

With his most recent album release being “Or Something Like That,” Fox noted the growth he has had from his first EP to his latest release.  

“It’s hard to say really what inspired those songs in the first EP. I think I was just getting a feel for writing stuff that actually sounded like me,” Fox said. “I had written a lot of songs that didn’t really expand genres and those songs finally felt like they were more original. And that was really just the start. I feel like they’ve gotten a lot better since then.”  

When talking about his latest album release, Fox is confident that it’s his best work to date. “This one is definitely the best and my favorite so far,” Fox said. “This ones a bit more produced, it has more electric instruments, and it’s a little more formed than the last one and a bit more cohesive. This one’s a little different in the writing too. If you listen to the last record, all of the writing is very similar in the form. This one is a little more free form versus having a standard form in the song.”  

As far as the people he wants to reach and the messages he wants to convey, Fox shared a few statements.

“I want my music to reach as many people as possible, Fox said. “I’ve kind of pushed that there really isn’t a message (in my songs). People ask, ‘what’s this and that?’ and I’d said ‘whatever you think it is or want it to be’ because you can read into it but I don’t really like doing that.”   

With all of his success so far in music, it might be easy to forget that Fox is, in fact, a college student. At Belmont University, Fox is studying music business, hoping that with his degree, he can have enough knowledge to help manage himself in the future or work independently or with a small group.  

“I want to go as far as I can really. I would hope that I will be able to pay rent with it someday because jobs suck and I don’t want a real job,” Fox said laughing. “It’s difficult right now cause I have a busy load with school and I just put this record out and as much as I want to go out and push it, that’s a bit hard to do at the moment. But I’m trying to do a little bit of both.” 

Fox’s next performance will be at The Open Chord at 8 p.m. on November 23 when he debuts his newest album release, “Or Something Like That.” 

“I think it’ll be fun to play the new songs. The arrangements will be a little different due to the lineup. It’ll be a smaller lineup of people and not the same rotation, but I think it’ll be fun to play songs live,” Fox said of his upcoming performance at Open Chord, noting that he’ll have some help from Knoxville musicians and one of the musicians who played on his album.  

When asked about the moment Fox knew he wanted music to be at the forefront of his life, he said it was the moments he played out as a teenager. When he gets discouraged with his music and all the processes that come along with it, Fox reminds himself of the reason he does it—it’s his calling.  

“I’ve had some times recently where I’ve wanted to quit or give it up, but then I always come back to it somehow whether I want to or not,” Fox said. “And there’s times I don’t really want to do it, but I feel like I have to. It feels like a calling which is, I think, the only reason anybody should make music.”  

As far as what Fox wants the world to know about him and his music, he noted that his most recent release of “Or Something Like That” should speak for him. For Fox, it might not necessarily be about what he says in his most recent songs or the messages that lie underneath, but like Guthrie, it might just be about “how he says it.”

Eli is poised to present his third album “Or Something Like That” in 2019. The album features 11 original songs with Eli backing himself on most of the instrumentation along with appearances by guest musicians. Join him November 23rd at Open Chord Music for his new album release, presented by WDVX.

Rachel Ward // Open Chord Exclusive Interviews // November 18, 2019

Read the original article here

With a new album and a college career ahead of him, Eli Fox pursues his promise

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Eli Fox an adolescent prodigy. At the tender age of 20, he’s already a veteran musician, courtesy of an early album, EP, and his newest effort, “Or Something Like That,” which was released last month. With an interest in making music that began in his early teens, he’s nothing if not prodigious, as affirmed by the fact that he plays 10 instruments and writes all his own material.

By his own admission, Fox is a shy guy, but that doesn’t deter his ambition. A student at Belmont College in Nashville where he’s majoring in music business and minoring in art, he takes his trade seriously, and does so with a decided sense of passion and purpose. Fascinated with the seminal folk music of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, John Hartford, John Prine, Johnny Cash and any number of other tireless troubadours, he combines true roots relevance with his own contemporary credence.

Fox began his musical quest early on. He first picked up the banjo in his pre-teen years and expanded his musical arsenal soon after. By age 14, he was already writing his own material and interning for radio station WDVX-FM. At 17, he was hosting several shows on the station and releasing his initial EP, the obliquely titled “Nothing To Say.” He followed it up a year later with his first full length effort, “Tall Tales,” in 2017.

Speaking on the phone between classes, Fox said the new album is a marked evolution as far as his creative process was concerned.

“Half of the songs are new and half are songs I had written three or four years ago,” he explained. “Some of them are songs I just wanted to get on disc, and others are things I had laying around. They felt like they fit together. The idea was to make a more produced sounding album. The songs have a little more kick to them. The last album was pretty raw because it was recorded live. This time around I wanted to do something different.”

Fox also cited distinct differences in the material, a sound that he described as far more expansive. In fact, many of the song titles — “Dark, Drifting Eyes,” “From the Window of Some Far Away Hotel,” “Thinkin’ Too Much,” “Cry For Freedom,” et. al. — suggest a decidedly downcast state of mind. Fox acknowledges that at the time he wrote most of the material, he was dealing with a somewhat melancholy mindset.

“This was me two years ago,” Fox said. “It was a difficult time. I had just started college, and I was getting out into the world. I didn’t really think about the songs when I wrote them, but I guess they kind of reflect what was going on in my head. I didn’t really have a direct goal when I wrote them, but they just sort of came out.”

This time around, he said there was nobody looking over his shoulder and no specific schedule to be aware of. The album was recorded over the course of eight months as time and touring allowed.

“Instead of just trying to get it done, we stepped back and really took our time with it,” Fox recalled. “I think that made all the difference and helped me get back into the recording process.”

Fox said that he’s not exactly certain what spawned his interest in making music. He claims he didn’t inherit it from his parents, but that somehow it came to him naturally.

“I don’t know if it was the music necessarily,” he said. “It wasn’t like I heard folk music and said, ‘That’s what I want to do!’ I just found that playing banjo all day, every day, was how I liked spending my time. That kind of transformed into a snowball effect. I liked history and so it ran into that, and I hit all sides of it. Plus, the music I was discovering — Woody Guthrie, Malcolm Holcombe — was powerful stuff.”

Fox said his affinity for that vintage material came naturally. “There’s not a lot of stuff out there with that kind of depth,” he said. “It does have a head start, especially compared to something that’s just come out, and that just makes it so profound. You can’t really ignore the greats that.came before.”

Consequently, the comparisons come naturally. In some ways his stage stance recalls the early Bob Dylan, just as his dedication to folk tradition naturally likens his efforts to the seminal work of Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie. At the same time, Fox maintains his intention to remain true to his own musical mantra.

“Those are obviously people I look up to,” he said of those early influences. “But if you don’t do it your own way, or have something new or different to offer, then I don’t really see the point of doing it. If I was just doing something bland or unoriginal, then I might as well just go home.”

As far as the future, Fox isn’t certain of where his career will eventually lead him. He’s still young, after all.

“I don’t feel any expectations,” he said. “But I do get the impression that a lot of people don’t take me seriously. I’m not much of a people person anyway. I don’t really like being around a bunch of people. Not that I’m afraid of it, but I don’t really get my kicks that way. I’m still figuring it all out. Having someone tell me I’m great doesn’t really do it for me.”

By Lee Zimmerman Daily Times correspondent, Oct 30, 2019

Tall Tales Provides Eli Fox With A Big Debut

Throughout musical history, those of a tender age have often shown a prolific prowess that outpaces their level of growth and maturity. The examples are evident — Michael Jackson, Tanya Tucker, Sarah Jarosz, Stevie Wonder and Sara and Sean Watkins are among the more obvious examples of musicians who made their mark early on, at an age where many of us are just learning how to tie our shoelaces. East Tennessee’s Eli Fox is the latest artist to show that remarkable proficiency; at age 18, he’s setting his sites on college and, equally importantly, boasting his full length musical debut, the ironically dubbed Tall Tales. The follow up to an initial EP that came out last year, it finds Fox taking his cue from traditional Americana and, most strikingly, the wit and rapport of early Bob Dylan. That’s particularly true of a song like “Hillbilly” where he states his case and shares his rural roots. The easy amble of “Fine Toothed Comb,“ the aw-shucks sentiment of “Tell Me Why” and the rapid fire delivery that accompanies “What Can I Do” more than affirm his down home demeanor, a dry yet demonstrative sound underscored by his rural regimen and an unassuming singing style that sounds as if it just rolled out of the far hills of Appalachia. He shares an obvious admiration for Woody Guthrie, but his instrumental ability — he plays guitar, banjo, fiddle, piano and harmonica with equal ease — only enhances his reverence for the roots. Indeed, really has a rookie been so quick to establish his credence and creativity.

- Lee Zimmerman / No Depression , June 14, 2017

Roots prodigy Eli Fox sets his sights on Dylan tribute, bear festival

The folks at WDVX-FM never fail to assemble a righteous collection of area musicians to pay tribute to folk icon Bob Dylan at the annual “Bob Dylan Birthday Bash” — which returns to Market Square on Friday evening — but one of this year’s performers is a home run.

Singer-songwriter Eli Fox, who recently graduated from the Webb School of Knoxville and made his bones as the co-founder of bluegrass band Subtle Clutch, strikes most people who see him perform as a reincarnation of a young Dylan. From his vocal delivery to his staccato work on a harmonica rig while his thumb rolls across the banjo, he’s an ideal choice for the all-star tribute, although any sort of comparison is shrugged off by the young musician in his characteristic aw-shucks fashion.

“That’s really nice to hear,” Fox told The Daily Times this week. “I love Bob Dylan’s music. I didn’t really start listening to him until I was 16, but I’ve gotten into him in the past year or so. The first album I got was ‘Nashville Skyline,’ and it kind of took off from there.”

He’s selected one song from that record — “One More Night” — as part of his set on Friday, along with “Duquesne Whistle” off of “Tempest” and songs from “Empire Burlesque,” and “New Morning,” among others.

“I tried to stay with stuff I thought no one else would do, and some of them just happened to be my favorites,” he said. “Dylan gets a lot of praise for his lyric play, but really, I think he’s quite the vocalist as well.”

Fox is no slouch in that department himself. Although Subtle Clutch broke up in 2015, the band of wunderkinds turned heads when they first formed; at the time, Fox — along with Devin Badgett, Briston Maroney and Jonathan Bailey — were eighth-graders at Episcopal School of Knoxville. On a lark, they decided to busk in Market Square, and they soon turned heads with their mastery of a genre that was older than their combined ages.

They started landing a few gigs around the area — including a couple at Vienna Coffeehouse in downtown Maryville — and high-profile shows such as opening for Johanna Devine at the Knoxville Botanical Garden gave them greater visibility. By 2014, they were one of the featured performers for the annual Rhythm N’ Blooms Festival, and since going their separate ways, Badgett, Maroney and Fox have all launched talented solo careers.

“With a band, it’s easy to get stuck as this thing or that thing, and you don’t want to get out of that,” Fox said. “It’s just harder in a group setting. As myself, I’m not trying to do any one thing, really; I’m just putting out what I’m creating.”

Although he’s still capable of some bluegrass picking, he draws on a broad spectrum of roots traditions for his solo material; last year, he released the debut EP “Nothing to Say,” a rollicking set of country honk, Appalachian blues, Old Time porch picking and tales of grenade-tossing monkeys and more. Fox put it together with a friend who served as the engineer, and once the floodgates of his solo songwriting opened up, they never closed back, he said.

“I was always writing songs, but I never really shared any with the group; maybe a few here and there, but it wasn’t the outlet for it,” he said. “When Subtle Clutch disbanded, I didn’t really have a plan; I just went in and started recording that album.”

He started booking shows as a solo act, put together his own band and went back into the studio recently to cut “Tall Tales,” released last month. A CD release show at Boyd’s Jig and Reel drew a sizable crowd, and he’ll continue to play area shows — including a Saturday gig at Trillium Cove in Townsend for the Appalachian Bear Rescue’s Appalachian Bear Fest. It’s one of a handful of gigs left for him before he picks up stakes in August and heads northeast, to attend college at East Tennessee State University. Higher education aside, he’ll continue to record the songs that flow like water to the deft young musician’s head and hands.

“I’ve got maybe two albums ready to go,” he said. “Songwriting is something I do a lot; I don’t force myself to at all. That’s why I like it. No one’s telling me what to do, when to do it or how to do it; it’s something that just sort of happens, and I have as much freedom as I want.”

- Steve Wildsmith / The Daily Times / May 31, 2017

First Appalachian Bear Fest set for June in Townsend

Eli Fox always wants to keep a little Woody Guthrie in his soul

CRAWLSPACE/ELI FOX TO HEADLINE 5TH ANNUAL BIG KAHUNA WING FESTIVAL!!

Eli Fox CD Release Party

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No Depression - Nothing To Say Proves Eli Fox has Plenty To Say

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