The best troubadours find a way to seamlessly marry bright, upbeat melodies with lyrics that tackle some of life’s toughest topics. When done right, the listener is first drawn in by the sonics – the grooves, the shimmer of sound. Then, almost imperceptibly, the lyrics begin to reveal themselves, guiding you into the story being told. That union of sound and words packs the punch it was always designed to deliver. Grant-Lee Phillips has just that gift. His career, though carved along a somewhat singular path, has been defined by a relentless pursuit of expression as powerful and affecting as many of the singer-songwriters he’s often compared to.
He now arrives with his 12th studio record, In the Hour of Dust. Like his earlier albums, it carries an intimacy framed by vocals that rise just a touch higher than expected – distinctive, authentic, and cutting through playlist clutter with restrained intensity. Inspired by a visit to an art museum in Pasadena, the collection explores themes of freedom, resilience, and societal discord, all shaded with autobiographical detail. While political undertones surface here and there, Phillips delivers them with subtlety and nuance, never allowing them to overshadow the broader emotional intent of the music.
Grant-Lee Phillips, In the Hour of Dust, album cover.
Recorded at Lucy’s Meat Market with mixer/engineer Pete Min, Phillips is once again joined by longtime collaborators: the powerhouse rhythm duo of Jay Bellerose (drums) and Jennifer Condos (bass), along with Patrick Warren, renowned for his scoring work in film and television, including HBO’s True Detective.
The result is a balanced affair – an album that weaves ballads and rockers into a steady, engaging rhythm. On the weekend that he kicked off a run of shows at City Winery locations across the East Coast, Copper caught up with Phillips to talk about the making of the record, the unexpected impact of his recurring role on the TV show Gilmore Girls, and which rising artists he’s keeping an ear on today.
Ray Chelstowski: I read that the new album was inspired by a visit to an Indian art exhibit. Do new album concepts tend to come to you through random life experiences?
Grant-Lee Phillips: Well, let me roll it back just a little bit. It was probably 15 years ago when I was walking through the Norton Simon Art Museum in Pasadena, California. I do remember the exhibition of paintings from India, one being called “The Hour of Cow Dust.” I wrote that down in my notebook and kind of just set it away for over a decade. And then recently, years later, I became fascinated with a particular period in American art, a movement that was later referred to as American Tonalism. This is post-Civil War and there is a preoccupation with the hours of twilight, dusk, dawn, the transition of day to night as a kind of metaphor.
The country was in a state of grieving and reflection and the mood was somewhat somber. This particular period of paintings reflects that. I myself had taken to painting for quite a while at this point and so I was looking at a painting of my own, trying to title it. Somehow or other at that moment I remembered the title of that Indian piece from so many years ago. It’s a reflection of how my circuitous path is often difficult for even me to pin down. It’s usually not about just one thing but many more that coincide, and that I turn inside out, and therefore it feels like a new piece of work.
RC: The album has a bright upbeat sonic vibe but the songs seem to largely address the more difficult parts of the adult, human experience. It makes for an interesting musical cocktail.
GLP: I think there are some different colors on this collection. I’m very conscious of creating an album, an experience that takes you on a ride. And you are correct; the album blasts off with the song “Little Men” which has a kind of strident feeling. But it does venture into some other places that are “weightier” in terms of their mood. The song “Dark Ages” just might be one of those. I feel like no two songs are exactly alike and it does kind of take you through these different corridors. All of this is set against this backdrop of confusion and the unsettling nature of this moment in history where the truth itself is being left up for grabs.
I try to leave a breezeway for the people to travel through the words. Hopefully the lyrics will stimulate memories and pictures for the person who’s listening to them.
RC: You recorded it at Lucy’s Meat Market. Tell us more about that room.
GLP: The building was once an actual butcher shop and the proprietor, mixer, and engineer, Pete Min, turned it into a great home studio. A lot of professional records have been made there since, mostly indie records. I think you’ll find in many of these rooms in Los Angeles and Nashville, where somebody who has worked in studios that all of us I have heard of, build up their own space and go every mile to make them just as competitive and professional as any well-known studios. That’s one of those rooms. One of the things that I liked about it is that the band and I were able to set up in a way where we could really play live. After the 1990s I kind of got away from that notion of approaching album production layer by layer. When you record live with your band it’s like having a dance partner, having that sort of trust, knowing that we’re all moving together as one. It’s pretty amazing.
RC: You work again with familiar faces with the husband/wife rhythm section of Jay Bellerose (drums/percussion) and Jennifer Condos (bass). Is there a comfort in knowing what you have in that regard even before you walk into the studio?
GLP: Yeah, I think that’s the real heart of the performance and I can almost walk away after that initial take and be very satisfied that we had a complete track. That said, I often develop ideas as I’m working on a song; counterpoints, a vocal harmony, guitar parts, something that’s going to make the song worth listening to many times over. Some of that’s probably just for me. I’ve probably been known to go a little bit crazy in that fashion, but I try to restrain myself. It really depends on what the song demands.
RC: Knowing that, is there any one of your past studio albums that you’d love to go back and noodle with it a bit?
GLP: That’s a good question. One of my earlier records was called Mobilize. It was a hybrid in that it was a collection of songs written on piano and guitar but I was also trying to use programming as a point of departure, coming up with a rhythm that I could build upon. I was focused on just mixing up my entire process. Consequently, the rhythm on that album is driven by programming, which I thought would be a way to really carve up each individual sound. It didn’t have to be [just] bass, guitar and drums. It could be a trash compactor and a vacuum, and I think it turned out quite well.
But I did have an opportunity midway through the process where Carmen Russo, who co-produced the album with me, said that if I wanted to use a real drummer on this we could always call my friend Bill Rieflin. But we were too far into the process. Years later I became friends with Bill. He was an incredible drummer and you know his playing from R.E.M. and King Crimson. He’s no longer with us and I will always regret that I could have made that record with Bill back then as well.
RC: Keyboardist Patrick Warren also joins you here. He may be best known for his work in film and television. Does that experience help support your visualized approach to making music?
GLP: His musicianship is off the charts. But really, it’s his sensibilities and his knack for responding in his own way. He seems to have a bottomless bag of ideas too. He is the kind of guy who wants to surprise himself as much as he wants to surprise you. There was a point in time where he was the name firstly associated in Los Angeles with the Chamberlin and the Mellotron [keyboards that use loops of tape for each note in order to produce sound – Ed.]. He pushed himself beyond that to things he hadn’t done before and I admire that about him. He’s so tasteful and never steps on a song. Instead, he really listens before he responds, and when he does it’s always pitch-perfect.
RC: You are in great voice on this record. Are there any tricks you can share that have helped keep your voice so strong?
GLP: I just had some Entertainer’s Secret arrive in the mail. It’s a spray that moistens your throat. That’s a new discovery. I saw Jason Isbell spray his throat on Instagram and wondered what he was up to. It must be working because he’s a great singer. It does help and it’s a great trick to singing your best on the road. When you go on tour you never get enough sleep, you are exposed to all kinds of bugs, the air conditioning in a hotel; all of that stuff is terrible for your voice.
The real trick, though, is that I get to write for my own voice. There’s always a conversation going on between the vocalist and me as the writer. They kind of work hand in hand. I’m using my voice as I would the guitar, “exploring the neck” and finding new options. I look to find the proper key that generates a certain emotion. That’s a big part of how I have handled things as I’ve gotten older.
RC: Your turn in Gilmore Girls was a bit ahead of its time. It had to be a great way to expose a wider group of people to your art and gave so many other musicians permission to leverage the reach of television.
GLP: That was a great opportunity and something I couldn’t have orchestrated. I got a call from the producers, inviting me to come on the show and play this part of the town troubadour. The show was quite new but I was very open to the idea because I had just set out on my solo career at that point, so the timing was good. They had apparently been fans and it was the kind of thing that only comes around once in life, if that. I jumped on it. It might have been a strange one for some of my fans to wrap their heads around because there were those attitudes about television not being “cool” that were prevalent then. But it just sounded like fun. Consequently, that show featured a lot of great music that wasn’t exactly [in the] forefront on the radio. They even featured [the art rock band] Sparks on screen!. There was even an episode where we had Sonic Youth wandering [around] town.
RC: To that point, are any artists that you are keeping an eye on that more people should know about?
GLP: There are so many great artists out there, beating the pavement today that have been at it a long while and are just now getting their due. Samantha Crane is one of my favorites and has a new album out called Gumshoe. I’m on the road starting this weekend. The opener is Kris Delmhorst who is from the western Massachusetts area and she’s got a brand new album out (Ghosts in the Garden), so come out and come early!
Header image courtesy of Denise Siegel-Phillips.
