Sam Phillips

Plastic Is Forever as the Long Play Gets Longer

Sam Phillips — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 17:27:30 +0000

To mark today’s 2 year anniversary of Long Play, I have recycled my song “Plastic Is Forever” and added this new recording to the collection. The first recorded version of the song was on my 1996 album Omnipop. Though it sounds plastic, this first version doesn’t grab me. Here is the version I wished I had recorded in 1996. One of our Long Players suggested that I re-record the entire Omnipop album. This sounds like a good idea to me, though it may have to be done song by song.

I am happy Long Play is still up and open ended. I have almost finished a new album and will want to give Long Play members a preview of it when it’s ready. This new album is connected to Long Play. The process of working digitally threw me back to dreaming of making pop music in the late 60’s/early 70’s. As far as I can tell (which is not far; I am too close to the songs), this new record is my dream of the record I would have made had I been writing and recording then. It isn’t about being sentimental for times past, it’s more about time travel and the irresistible idea of connecting what was with what we know now. I hope these songs survived the trip back into the present from the 1960’s—passing through the ethers of the 20th century into the 21st can be a rough ride for a pop song.

Click here to join Long Play and get all the music created during the project.

Plastic Is Forever (60-second clip) by Sam Phillips Music

Sam on stage with Rhett Miller of the Old 97s

Sam Phillips — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:02:26 +0000

Sam sings with Rhett Miller of the Old 97s at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles

Solid State Reviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air

Sam Phillips — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 23:27:54 +0000

Sam’s new album, Solid State, was reviewed by Ken Tucker on NPR’s Fresh Air Program on Thursday, August 8th. Ken talks about his thoughts on Solid State, Sam as an artist, and includes several audio samples of the songs from the album.

You can listen to the archived broadcast here.

Click here to visit Sam’s web store or follow the STORE link above.

Solid State: Songs from the Long Play – Track Listing

Sam Phillips — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:42:24 +0000

Sam has released Solid State, a collection of 13 songs from the recently completed Long Play project available now on CD or full-album digital download at samphillips.com. Aimed for her listeners who did not join the ambitious Long Play subscription project, Solid State’s songs are Sam’s selection from the 40+ songs released to Long Play members since October 2009.

As Sam says, “As most of you know, I have just completed my first all-digital music and art project called Long Play. I started out not knowing what kind of music I was going to make during that year—I only knew that I was going to attempt to write and record 5 EPs and an album along with audio logs, essays, art and a drum fill of the week. It took a little over a year to make all the music, but it also inspired songs for a new album, which I am recording now. To raise funds for the recording of this new album, I not only went through my pockets for loose change, but considered a bake sale as well. Since the only baked treat I have mastered is the peanut butter chocolate chip Rice Crispy Square, I decided to release Solid State instead.”

Track Listing:
Tell Me
Magic For Everybody
Happy Mediums
Broken Circle
Throw Yourself Away
Tell Her What She Wants To Know
Lever Pulled Down
Not So Fast
What It All Means
Lying
It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas
When I’m A Camera
So Glad You’re Here

Purchase now at samphillips.com.

3 Sam Phillips songs on “T Bone Burnett: The Producer” Compilation

Sam Phillips — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:23:06 +0000

T Bone Burnett: The Producer, a new compilation album of productions by T Bone Burnett, features three songs written by Sam Phillips: “Baby I Can’t Please You” from Sam’s Martinis and Bikinis album, and covers of “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us” by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant from the Raising Sand album and “Where Is Love Now” performed by Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

Little known fact: Sam also sings backup on The Wallflowers’ smash hit “One Headlight”.

Other artists featured are Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello, Gilliam Welch, Elton John & Leon Russell, Jakob Dylan, Los Lobos and B.B. King.

The album is available at Starbucks locations and online here.

Summer Reading

Sam Phillips — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:47:48 +0000

I have chosen the wrong book for summer reading because it’s huge and weighs way too much to take to the beach. It is called My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. I love this book even though it makes me want to move to Santa Fe, learn to paint, take pictures and live in a different century. I guess this is what summer reading books are all about: taking a vacation from yourself and your life.

I highly recommend this book but you should probably work on your arm muscles before you attempt to carry it around. (I know, I know, I could buy the e-book, but the bookstore I found it in was so cool and the book was so pretty…and now my arms are so much stronger!)

Aside from that I have a new web store. We don’t sell books by the pound, but we do have my new Solid State CD, a limited edition handmade companion book, signed songbooks and more. I’ve even gotten up the nerve, thanks to Georgia and Alfred, to offer some of my original collage art pieces.

I hope you all have a happy summer. I’m spending my summer continuing work on a new album called Pretty Time Bomb due to be released next year.

All the best from Sam

Click here to visit the Web Store

BROKEN CIRCLE – Music Video

Sam Phillips — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:26:42 +0000

Click here to check out Sam’s new music video for “Broken Circle” from the Solid State: Songs from the Long Play CD.

Inspired by the “Art in the Streets” exhibition at Los Angeles’ MOCA, Sam found a wall not far from the museum that was a work of art unto itself. As Sam herself says, “Just a few blocks away from the first street art exhibit at MOCA in downtown Los Angeles, is a wall of evolving street art. For the
Broken Circle Video, we wanted to document this wall.”

Please watch and share!

Solid State is available only through www.samphillips.com and will not be sold in stores!

The Best of Sam Phillips songbook now in stores!

Sam Phillips — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:54:55 +0000

Now in stores: The Best of Sam Phillips songbook from Hal Leonard! This folio contains P/V/G arrangements of 17 songs from throughout the career of this Grammy-nominated, critically acclaimed songwriter: All Night * Baby I Can’t Please You * Fan Dance * I Need Love * If I Could Write * Reflecting Light * Strawberry Road * Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us * and more. Features a bio written by Randy Lewis of the LA Times, great photos, and a note from Sam herself!

Purchase online at Amazon or at Hal Leonard.

Sam Phillips to Receive Levertov Award in Seattle; 5/5/11

Sam Phillips — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:15:29 +0000

Image magazine is awarding the 8th Annual Denise Levertov Award to Sam on May 5, 2011 in Seattle, WA at 415 Westlake. The event, An Evening with Sam Phillips, will be comprised of an on-stage conversation with Image magazine’s Greg Wolfe, plus an acoustic performance by Sam.

Sam says “I will be in Seattle on May 5th to sing a few songs, chat about art and life, and to receive an award from Image magazine. It’s a free
event so I hope to see you there.”

To RSVP and for all the event info, please click here.

Sam Phillips – When I’m a Camera

Sam Phillips — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:44:14 +0000

Director, Editor and Time Lapse Photographer: Carlos Grasso