The Rooster's Wife presents Irish singer-songwriter Danny Ellis, Saturday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. at the gallery of Poplar Knight Spot in downtown Aberdeen.

The performance will be an evening of song and theater as Ells tells the story of his life with original songs and music. Admission is $10 in advance, and $12 on the day of the show. Children under the age of 12 are always free at the Rooster's Wife events, furthering the mission of building community through the arts.

Music has been the driving force in Danny Ellis' life since he was 8 years old, when he played trombone in an Irish orphanage band. His songs paint a graphic, emotional landscape, finding meaning in the most mundane events.

"In songwriting, I love when I'm led by ordinary things to discover that they hold the key to unlock the deeper layers beneath," Ellis says. "There is a vital spark of reality running through everything we do, and it clings to the back lanes and alleyways of our lives waiting for us to catch it. We know the poetry of hope is real; it touches us through art and nature, but I love when I find it there in the noise of the traffic and the old lady waiting for the bus."

Brought up in the infamous Artane Industrial School, which was reputed to make you tough so they could knock you down, Ellis credits music with saving his life.

"Certain melodies and words just grabbed me and pulled me through one day at a time," he says. "I hung onto them like a shipwrecked mongrel on a raft. Songs impacted me so deeply as a child; they were my parents, my teachers, my friends and sometimes, when the lessons were painful, my enemies. Hopefully that allows me to access that same depth in my own writing and share it with others. I'm not ashamed to admit I want my songs to touch deeply. I want to make you feel, even more than I want to make you think."

Ellis' songs straddle the borders of music from his Irish roots and the pop and rock that buoyed him as he grew up. He worked for years as a session singer in London's Abbey Road and toured as a trombonist with Graham Parker and the Rumor, The Foundations, and The Miami Showband.

His latest CD "800 Voices," which depicts his life in the orphanage, has been hailed by many, including David Wilcox, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Mary Gauthier, as a masterpiece.

"Somehow, despite having music as a release, I managed to hide the language, the story of my past, behind super-positive lyrics and ideas," Ellis says. "Those buried feelings came through the melodies, but the words never even came close to them till '800 Voices.'"

Ellis won the 2009 Lyricist of the Year Prize at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn.

The Rooster's Wife continues to bring words and music to Aberdeen this fall and winter. The gallery is totally accessible with parking adjacent to the building at 114 Knight St. in downtown Aberdeen.

For more information and the complete schedule,visit www.theroosterswife.org or call (910) 944-7502.