Grant-Lee Phillips

It was a joy to catch Grant-Lee Phillips tonight at the Philharmonic Music Room. I was pretty keen on his band, Grant Lee Buffalo, back in the day (‘Fuzzy’ is a classic https://youtube.com/watch?v=5a2LJ4CCd7I and was received rapturously as an encore tonight) but he’s made many more solo albums than he ever did with the band and his latest, ‘Widdershins’, is an absolute corker!

It’s very much a reaction to the times we live in and he explains it much better than I could, right here https://youtube.com/watch?v=q4s8NwSyF0I

As a taster, here’s one of my favourite tracks from it, ‘Miss Betsy’ https://youtube.com/watch?v=byChIz2rUtE

Phillips is a total dude and a really engaging, energetic character who can hold an audience spellbound with an acoustic guitar, a catalogue of great songs, an amazing voice and a wry sense of humour.

He’s of Creek, Blackfoot and Cherokee heritage which he explored, in particular, on his acclaimed 2016 album ‘The Narrows’.

He also explored racial identity, stereotyping and misconceptions with the comedian Margaret Cho on her album ‘Cho Dependent’ and appears in the video for her song ‘Asian Adjacent’, which is well worth a watch https://youtube.com/watch?v=8MxFYpIubeU

The support act tonight was another righteous American dude, Jarrod Dickenson, who can also write a mean song and has a superb voice, a genial disposition and a great look. Check him out in the Extra photo and in the video for ‘Take It From Me’ https://youtube.com/watch?v=Xq57VW0bBRs