ROBERT ELLIS Photographs [New West] He may be only 22, but Houston native Robert Ellis displays an impressive ability to channel influential elders while nimbly shifting his own style. The first five songs on his debut find him in singer-songwriter mode a la the early ’70s, with Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Paul Simon and the Laurel Canyon crowd serving as obvious reference points. Mellow acoustic ballads with occasional strings offer the impression...