I don’t know about all of you, but personally, I’ve been enjoying this journey into the lives of the musicians from the “HOT LIST”. I never knew so many of them had such similar backgrounds and crossed paths along their travels through to becoming professional musicians. Our next musician is a very talented American guitarist, songwriter of the delta-blues genre. I hope you enjoy . . .
Kelly Joe Phelps (born October 5, 1959 in Sumner, Washington, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. His music has been characterized as a mixture of delta blues and jazz.
Kelly Joe Phelps grew up in Sumner, Washington, a blue-collar and farming town. He learned country and folk songs, as well as drums and piano, from his father. He began playing guitar at age twelve.
Phelps concentrated on free jazz and took his cues from musicians like Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. He spent 10 years playing jazz, mostly as a bass player. He refers to his "conversion" to a blues musician when he began listening to acoustic blues masters like Fred McDowell and Robert Pete Williams.
Initially gaining notice for his solo lapstyle slide guitar playing, which he played by laying the instrument flat and fretting it with a heavy steel bar, he has incorporated more ensemble work in his later albums. Inspired by the birth of his daughter Rachel in 1990, Phelps began writing songs. He began singing and released his critically praised debut, Lead Me On, in 1995. This album showcased Phelps' craft, and as well as his own songs, he tackled traditional numbers such as "Motherless Children" and "Fare Thee Well."
He released his second album, the gospel influenced Roll Away the Stone (1997) and followed it up with 1999's, Shine Eyed Mister Zen.
His fourth record, Sky Like a Broken Clock, appeared in 2001. This time he was joined by a bassist and a drummer - its companion piece, Beggar's Oil EP, was a critic's favourite in 2002. In order to achieve a richer, orchestrated sound on Slingshot Professionals, released in 2003, he collected a wider collection of musicians to play guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, violin, and accordion.
In 2005, Phelps released a live album, Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind, which was followed a year later by the studio album Tunesmith Retrofit. In 2009 he released an album of instrumentals titled Western Bell. Following the release of that CD, he began recording and touring with the American singer-songwriter Corinne West. In January 2013, he announced that he was taking a hiatus from touring due to ulnar neuropathy in his right hand and arm.
Phelps is featured in the book “I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt”.
Discography:
- Lead Me On, 1994 (Burnside Records)
- Roll Away the Stone, 1997 (Rykodisc Records)
- Shine Eyed Mister Zen, 1999 (Rykodisc Records)
- Sky Like a Broken Clock, 2001 (Rykodisc Records)
- Beggar's Oil (EP), 2002 (Rykodisc Records)
- Slingshot Professionals, 2003 (Rykodisc Records)
- Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind, 2005 (Rykodisc / True North Records)
- Tunesmith Retrofit, 2006 (Rounder)
- Western Bell, 2009 (Black Hen Music)
- Magnetic Skyline (EP with Corinne West), 2010 (Make Records)
- Brother Sinner and the Whale, 2012
Next on my “HOT LIST” is Jonny Lang (born Jon Gordon Langseth, Jr., January 29, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter, guitarist and recording artist.
Until next time, remember to help “SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC” . . .
MUSICIAN by Night
GOD Save “The Blues”
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