Posted in: Uncategorized | 3 Comments | Posted on November 18, 2011 by Rod

This first post is a description of Rod’s new CD, available on CDbaby and others within the next 48 hours: “Rosalia One: Going Out” is the first half of a two part album of 25
songs written, played, and sung by Rod Phillips, in a style reminiscent
of Dan Fogelberg, John Denver, and/or Michael Martin Murphey. The
songs were written over a fort…y year period, some going back a full 40
years and some written within a year of the recording, reflecting an
… evolution and growth in the artist’s writing style, and incorporating
over a dozen instruments played by the artist– placing this
accomplishment in the category of a Stevie Wonder or Todd Rungren–
both multi-instrumentalists. Expert drummer/percussionist Pete

Generous (Springfield, MO) and seasoned fiddle player George Geisser

(Branson, MO) on the low-strung 5 string fiddle are the only other

musicians on the album (OK, theres a cameo electric guitar solo on “5th

Element” by superb engineer/technician Stephen “Jimi” John). So, Rod

plays 3 kinds of guitars, bass, piano, cello, keyboards, chromatic and

blues harmonicas, Indian flute, whistle, and classical flute, mandolin,

banjo, celtic harp, & alto saxophone, and sings all the parts a la

Crosby, Stills, and Nash (it’s widely known that parts of their songs

were doubled by the lead vocalist on the track). That’s around fifteen

instruments, but who’s counting? The important part of the music is

the lyrics, tone, and delivery of the songs. They are art songs, songs

of family, reminiscence, longing, life, and love, with impeccable

lyrics and sometimes great stories. To put a singer in a category is

dangerous but Rod is not a rapper, not a blues singer, not a country

singer per se… if you’re looking for a wailer, you won’t find it

here. There’s much emphasis on the clarity of the lyrics and a

dependence on the form of the song, its poetry, for its impact. Rod

collaborates with a few other lyricists on the album, whom,he says “were a great

source of the inspiration for recording it, namely my friends Dale

Tower, Bob Rommage, and Cindy Carver, and a fine contribution

lyrically by Bill Smith (in Omaha, NB, anybody know how to contact him?) for ‘She Reminds Me of Montana’. Thanks especially to my ‘old’ friend Dale and my ‘new’ friend Cindy… I would never have recorded this album without their inspiration and support.”