CoronaVinyl Day 447 (M): We The People by Ellen McIlwaine

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "M," and I went with another artist who I knew very little (read: nothing) about and whose album I have no idea how or when I acquired:  Ellen McIlwaine's second solo studio album, 1973's We The People.

McIlwaine was a singer-songwriter and slide guitarist who had a pretty interesting backstory.  Her parents were missionaries, so she spent her childhood in Japan.  She came back to the U.S. in the mid '60s and was the opening act at New York's legendary Cafe Au Go Go, where she played with Jimi Hendrix and opened for the likes of Muddy Waters, before forming a band called Fear Itself, which only released one album.

After that, she went solo, moved to Canada, became big in Australia, and continued to make music for the next several decades before succumbing to esophageal cancer in 2021 at the age of 75.

I quite enjoyed We The People, as I love a good slide guitar.  McIlwaine's voice hovers somewhere between Joni Mitchell and Grace Slick.  I'd describe the album as a combination of blues rock, folk rock, country rock, Santana, Ritchie Havens, Elmore James, Ravi Shankar, and Mitchell.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune"
This song is a toe-tapping acoustic rock song, with some impassioned vocals from McIlwaine and nice percussion.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "We The People"
The last song on the album is a live version the title track, recorded at Carnegie Hall.  McIlwaine shows off her guitar chops, playing a blistering pace and making the guitar sound almost like a sitar.  The lyrics are indecipherable chants, giving it both an Indian and Native American feel.