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When you're a musician used to a certain creative groove, it's disorienting to have this rhythm disrupted. But that was just the position Grant-Lee Phillips found himself in spring 2020: Months before the release of a new full-length, Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff — an album he was already previewing on an early 2020 tour with John Doe and Kristin Hersh — the pandemic led to the cancellation of tour dates and other promotional plans. Like many musicians, Phillips sought out silver linings wherever he could find them. He started performing weekly at-home livestreams, dubbed Live from the Parlor, and promoted Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff from his house in Nashville. But in early 2021, when Phillips realized any potential touring options were still on hold for the foreseeable future, he started to write and record a new solo album at home. "I found respite in the process when I could do little else," he says. "It became a sort of meditation on this time in my life and the events that we've collectively experienced." The resulting full-length, All That You Can Dream, is understandably introspective, as it's anchored by Phillips' empathetic voice and rich acoustic guitar. The album's lyrics attempt to make sense of an uncertain, anxiety-riddled time, while coming to terms with the idea that once-unshakeable things now seem fragile or fallible. "In terms of subject matter, I found that the circumstances of being off the road, and left to reflect on what this time feels like, produced a different kind of song," Phillips says. "I wasn't entirely certain—and to be honest, I'm still not altogether certain—when I get to take these songs on the road. In some ways, that freed me up to write and record the kind of song that was personal and executed as though it were for an audience of myself alone. That's freeing."
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Grant-Lee Phillips Biography
“I’m drawing on the urgency of the moment,” reflects Grant-Lee Phillips. “The things that eat away in the late hours…”
That urgency inspired the headlong rush of his new album Widdershins – in which Grant-Lee Phillips invests the insight, nuance, and wit that has distinguished his songcraft over the past three decades.
Exploring folk, alternative, pop and Americana, Phillips’ band Grant Lee Buffalo was a seminal ‘90s mainstay. Even in the wake of disbanding in ’99, albums like Fuzzy and Mighty Joe Moon remain enigmatic treasures, that new generations are drawn to. So much so, that Grant Lee Buffalo embarked on a string of reunion dates in 2011. The group signed a deal with Chrysalis/Blue Rain Coat in 2018 and a major reissue of the catalogue is currently underway.
As for Phillips, his career has constantly evolved, diving into deeper adventurous waters with each project. Being a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, he’s embraced the freedom of being his own producer. “For me, production is about honoring and delivering the song, baring witness to the spirit in the room. It is so much about communication, finding that common language among musicians and technicians - which is often wordless, by the way.” Fans have come to accept that Phillips would always prioritize creative discovery, while resisting the expected.
Something he could never expect occurred in 2001 when Phillips was approached about a role on a newly burgeoning TV show called The Gilmore Girls. “The Town Troubadour was sort of a cartoon version of myself. I had no idea it was going to snowball into multiple seasons, coffee mugs and syndication as it did. The show turned a lot of new people onto my music.”
Acting wouldn’t curb Phillips’ consistent output however. Mobilize, Virginia Creeper, Nineteeneighties, Strangelet and Little Moon would follow – each a document of his life in that moment.
On his 2012 release Walking in the Green Corn he drew from his Native American heritage. A year later Phillips relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville, marking a new creative chapter, inspiring The Narrows. The release of Widdershins in 2018 brings the current count to nine solo albums and four with Grant Lee Buffalo.
His eyes remain fixed on the work at hand and that of tomorrow. His tour schedule finds him circling the globe many times over in a given year. Constant movement, physically and creatively is almost a mantra. Say’s Phillips, “I could never sit still.“
Read MoreThat urgency inspired the headlong rush of his new album Widdershins – in which Grant-Lee Phillips invests the insight, nuance, and wit that has distinguished his songcraft over the past three decades.
Exploring folk, alternative, pop and Americana, Phillips’ band Grant Lee Buffalo was a seminal ‘90s mainstay. Even in the wake of disbanding in ’99, albums like Fuzzy and Mighty Joe Moon remain enigmatic treasures, that new generations are drawn to. So much so, that Grant Lee Buffalo embarked on a string of reunion dates in 2011. The group signed a deal with Chrysalis/Blue Rain Coat in 2018 and a major reissue of the catalogue is currently underway.
As for Phillips, his career has constantly evolved, diving into deeper adventurous waters with each project. Being a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, he’s embraced the freedom of being his own producer. “For me, production is about honoring and delivering the song, baring witness to the spirit in the room. It is so much about communication, finding that common language among musicians and technicians - which is often wordless, by the way.” Fans have come to accept that Phillips would always prioritize creative discovery, while resisting the expected.
Something he could never expect occurred in 2001 when Phillips was approached about a role on a newly burgeoning TV show called The Gilmore Girls. “The Town Troubadour was sort of a cartoon version of myself. I had no idea it was going to snowball into multiple seasons, coffee mugs and syndication as it did. The show turned a lot of new people onto my music.”
Acting wouldn’t curb Phillips’ consistent output however. Mobilize, Virginia Creeper, Nineteeneighties, Strangelet and Little Moon would follow – each a document of his life in that moment.
On his 2012 release Walking in the Green Corn he drew from his Native American heritage. A year later Phillips relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville, marking a new creative chapter, inspiring The Narrows. The release of Widdershins in 2018 brings the current count to nine solo albums and four with Grant Lee Buffalo.
His eyes remain fixed on the work at hand and that of tomorrow. His tour schedule finds him circling the globe many times over in a given year. Constant movement, physically and creatively is almost a mantra. Say’s Phillips, “I could never sit still.“
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