For about 40 years Tinsley Ellis has lived his life on the road, either driving to a gig, setting up, performing, tearing down, or driving to the next gig. Ellis made himself legendary as a touring machine, and an icon of the Atlanta blues scene. Then came COVID-19. In March 2020, halfway through a 60-gig jaunt promoting his album “Ice Cream in Hell,” everything fell apart, all the clubs canceled, and Ellis drove home from Northern California in one, long, painful, three-day burst. On this week's podcast, Bo Emerson talks to Ellis about the difficulties of being a touring musician in the pandemic era, returning to the road and his new album “Devil May Care.”

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