Lindsay Ell

Lindsay Ell merges commanding blues-rooted guitar work with a clear aptitude for melodic country songcraft, resisting simple stylistic pigeonholes. Though she operates primarily within country circles, she favors bright, acoustic-driven pieces bathed in warmth while grounding her sound in soul-infused grooves and presenting the results in a polished, accessible finish. These elements appear prominently on her 2017 breakthrough album The Project and achieve fuller expression on Heart Theory, the 2020 release that delivered her initial Canadian number-one single, “Want Me Back.” That achievement led directly to her hosting role on the second season of Canada’s Got Talent in 2022, coinciding with the arrival of her sleek pop single “Right on Time.”

Born March 20, 1989, in Calgary, Alberta, Ell showed early musical inclination, taking up piano at age six, moving to guitar at eight, and, by ten, composing original material while sharpening her technique at bluegrass camps and absorbing country recordings. When she encountered Randy Bachman at thirteen, she had already become a formidable electric guitarist whose warm, effortless country-pop vocals positioned her as a counterpart to guitar-focused country performers such as Keith Urban and Brad Paisley. Bachman served as her mentor, exposing her to jazz and blues guitarists, and Ell embraced the blues while also studying recordings by leading rock guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Derek Trucks. She soon shared bills with artists such as Buddy Guy, consistently delivering her distinctive blend of country sensibility and gritty electric guitar. Bachman produced her debut album, Consider This, issued on his Ranbach Music label in 2006. Her follow-up, the more acoustic-oriented Alone, appeared in 2009. After signing with Stoney Creek Records, she issued the buoyant country single “Trippin’ on Us” in fall 2013. Two further singles, “Pickup Truck” and “Shut Me Up,” arrived in 2014 and both reached the Top 20. “By the Way” followed in 2015, while “All Alright” in 2016 climbed into Canada’s Country Top Ten. Her debut EP, Worth the Wait, surfaced in spring 2017 and preceded the full-length The Project that summer.

The Project peaked at number four on Billboard’s Country chart. A year later, The Continuum Project presented Ell’s complete cover of John Mayer’s 2006 album Continuum, which she recorded as preparatory work while developing The Project. In 2019 she joined Brantley Gilbert for the duet “What Happens in a Small Town,” which topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Ell released her second solo album, Heart Theory—a concept project tracing the seven stages of grief—in August 2020; it reached number five in Canada, aided by the Canadian chart-topping single “Want Me Back.” The success raised her visibility. By late 2021 she featured alongside Lee Brice on Cheat Codes’ single “How Do You Love” and paired with Chayce Beckham on “Can’t Do Without Me.” She co-hosted the Canadian Country Music Awards and the second season of Canada’s Got Talent, which premiered in 2022 around the time she issued the glossy pop single “Right on Time.”