⬇️ KELLY JOE PHELPS ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1995-2012 (11CD)
BIOGRAPHY
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.