Kelly Joe Phelps

by Richard SkellyPortland, OR-based acoustic/slide guitar player and singer/songwriter Kelly Joe Phelps carved out a growing niche for his music throughout the 1990s. Phelps was raised in Washington and learned country and folk songs, as well as drums and piano, from his father. At first, he concentrated on free jazz and took his cues from musicians like Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane before finding his true calling as a blues musician in the late 80s, when he began listening to acoustic blues masters like Fred McDowell and Robert Pete Williams. He began singing as well and released his critically praised debut, Lead Me On, in 1995. Six original songs showcase Phelps ability in the blues idiom, but he also tackles, and does justice to, traditional numbers like Motherless Children and Fare Thee Well. Phelps, as deft and creative an acoustic slide guitarist as youll hear anywhere in the U.S., also made appearances on Greg Browns album Further In, Tony Furtados Roll My Blues Away, and Townes Van Zandts The Highway Kind. In recent years, hes opened shows for B.B. King, Leo Kottke, Keb Mo, Robben Ford, and Little Feat. He released his second album, Roll Away the Stone, in 1997, and followed it up with 1999s Shine Eyed Mister Zen. Sky Like a Broken Clock, which appeared in 2001, exuded a sultrier disposition from Phelps; its companion piece, the Beggars Oil EP, was a critics fave in 2002. Phelps was on fire; however, changes loomed ahead. He switched up his role from solo act to bandleader when it came to recording a fifth studio effort in late 2002. Phelps wanted a dramatic orchestrated sound, so he collected guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Keith Lowe as well as Zubot & Dawsons Steve Dawson, Jesse Zubot, and Andrew Downing (bass) for the recording of Slingshot Professionals; the album appeared in March 2003 and quickly earned critical acclaim among indie critics. In 2005, Phelps released a live album, Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind, which was followed a year later by the studio album Tunesmith Retrofit, released on Rounder Records.