George Ensle is a folk and country singer-songwriter and guitarist from Texas.
Biography
Ensle was born in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
on September 6, 1948. His parents gave him his first guitar when he was 13, after which he began to learn how to play classically.
[Ensle, George. "George Ensle oral history and transcript." (2017) Rice University: http://hdl.handle.net/1911/97401.] This classical training formed his unique fingerpicking style later in life.
As a teenager, Ensle joined the Houston folk club circuit, playing places like the
Sand Mountain Coffee House Sand Mountain Coffee House was a venue and home to Houston folk musicians from 1965 to 1977. Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Don Sanders were notable artists who wrote, performed, and sometimes lived at the coffee house.
H ...
, Theodore’s, Houlahan’s No. 2,
Anderson Fair, and the Old Quarter.
[Series I: General files, 1973-2016. George Ensle collection, . Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas. http://archives.library.rice.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/256003 Accessed July 09, 2018.] Though he moved to
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
in 1966 to attend the
University of Texas, he continued to perform in both cities.
It was in the club circuit that he first met fellow artists like
Townes Van Zandt,
Guy Clark,
Don Sanders
Don Sanders (October 1, 1943 – July 21, 2018) was an American singer-songwriter from Houston, Texas. Due to his unique blend of storytelling and songwriting he was sometimes called a "folk humorist." Throughout the years he shared the stage with ...
,
Carolyn Hester
Carolyn Sue Hester (born January 28, 1937) is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was a figure in the early 1960s folk music revival.
Biography
Hester's first album was produced by Norman Petty in 1957. She made her second album for Tr ...
,
Jerry Jeff Walker,
Vince Bell,
Eric Taylor,
Bill Staines, and Bill and Lucille Cade.
He also played the college circuit in the 1970s, which included the
University of Houston and
Sam Houston State University
Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...
, with Lindsay Haisley and
Nanci Griffith.
In 1977, Ensle was one of six winners chosen out of over one hundred tapes sent to the 6th
Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition, judged by
Townes Van Zandt,
Steve Young, and
Bobby Bridger
Bobby Bridger (born Robert Durham in Columbia, Louisiana March 14, 1945) is a singer/songwriter/poet/actor/playwright/author and painter who for three decades has traveled the globe performing a trilogy of one man shows for audiences in America, C ...
. Van Zandt would later include Ensle in a list of “contemporary performers he admire
- a list composed of
Guy Clark,
David Olney,
Gamble Rogers, and Pat White.
In 1978 and 1979, Ensle was an artist-in-residence at economically disadvantaged schools in
Beaumont and
Victoria, Texas. He worked with elementary and middle school students to cultivate an atmosphere of creativity, encouraging them to write poetry, songs, and prose.
After working in the schools, Ensle created and released his first album, ''Head On'', in 1980. He followed the album release with a tour in
Colorado.
Around 1990, Ensle met and began to mentor Will T. Massey as Massey went on to cut his first album. The resulting eponymous album was successful; Massey used some of the money he made from its sales to pay for the production of Ensle’s ''Heartwood'' album.
In 2008, Ensle was nominated for the Texas Music Awards’ singer-songwriter of the year.
Some of Ensle’s many songs have been recorded by other artists, including
Gary P. Nunn
Gary P. Nunn (born December 4, 1945) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He is best known for writing "London Homesick Blues", which was the theme song for ''Austin City Limits'' from 1977 to 2004 (seasons 2–29). Nunn is also consi ...
, Bob Cheevers, Will T. Massey, and Jeff Talmadge.
Ensle continues to write, both commercially and charitably. He created "Portrait Songs," a business through which he crafts original and personalized songs for individuals and their loved ones. In recent years, he has also written portrait songs for patients in hospice care.
He regularly hosts songwriting showcases that support and encourage fellow songwriters.
References
External links
George Ensle Online Exhibit in Houston Folk Music Archive(Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA)
Guide to the Houston Folk Music Archive (Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensle, George
1948 births
Living people
American male singer-songwriters