You can reach Ellen at Ellen@steelrail.ca.

Bassist and singer Ellen Shizgal is a veteran of the Montreal folk scene who was involved in the management of such legendary coffee houses as the Yellow Door and the Golem. She has played in several Quebec folk bands, including Harlequin and Stringalong.

Ellen enjoys growing acclaim for her strong original tunes, which add a different flavour to the Steel Rail mix. On the first band album A Thousand Miles of Snow, Ellen wrote Solitaire, which got some airplay on mainstream country radio across Canada; Right of the Moon; and Lay Me Down With the Blues, which she also sang.

Her contributions on The Road Less Travelled, Steel Rail's second album, are the lullaby Prairie Sky, which she sings; Closing Time, which she co-wrote with band lyricist Lucinda Chodan; and Late Autumn Days, a co-write for her (music) and lead singer Tod Gorr (lyrics).

Ellen plays a Fender Precision bass; she writes on her Martin OOO-18 guitar. She has also played a little fiddle with the band Stringalong, although she modestly refuses to pick up the instrument in public these days.

She sings lead on several Steel Rail originals, including I Wonder If You're Sleeping Tonight, written by Dave Clarke and Lucinda Chodan, and a powerful  new song, Tread Softly, that she wrote about a bedside vigil. 

Like the other members of Steel Rail, Ellen's musical influences include bluegrass, country and folk music as well as some pop. Not surprisingly, given her crucial role in Steel Rail's intricate vocal arrangements, she has a particular interest in harmonies. 

Her comments about the Steel Rail sound? "The country tends to ground the folk a little bit, and the bluegrass gives us the chops," she told Ottawa Citizen writer Patrick Langston. "Sometimes you see people who have ancestors from five different races and they come out as the most beautiful people because they have the best of everything. We're just a blend of different things."