Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has recorded 32 albums and worked with musicians including Donovan, Paul Buckmaster, J. Peter Robinson, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bernie Taupin, Tim Hardin, Manos Hatzidakis and many others.
Rock impresario Bill Graham described the Texas-born musician as "the best kept secret in the music business". Phillips' AllMusic biography states: "His refusal to pigeonhole his music – which seamlessly melds folk, rock, jazz, funk, progressive, pop, electro, classical, and global folk traditions – to meet anyone else's expectations allowed him to retain his cult following without ever achieving the stardom that his talent seemed to merit."
Contents
Biography
Phillips was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of James Atlee Phillips, writer of spy novels under the pseudonym of Philip Atlee, and nephew of CIA officer David Atlee Phillips. He grew up in various locations around the world, including Tahiti, and learned to play guitar as a child. He returned to live in Texas in the late 1950s, and, after a time in the U.S. Navy, moved to California.
He played in folk clubs in the early 1960s, alongside singer-songwriter Tim Hardin, comedian Lenny Bruce, and others, and when in Saskatoon, Canada, met and taught guitar techniques to aspiring singer Joni Anderson (later Mitchell). He recorded his first single, an adaptation of Bob Gibson's version of "Frankie and Johnnie" (credited as "The New Frankie & Johnnie Song"), in 1964. While traveling to India, he stopped in London and met record producer Denis Preston, who signed him to Columbia Records. Phillips released two albums on the label, I'm a Loner (1965) and Shawn (1966), though neither was successful. During this period, Phillips also met Donovan. The pair ultimately collaborated on several songs, including "Season of the Witch", for which Phillips composed the melody. Donovan has since acknowledged that Phillips did indeed write the music of the song. Phillips also appeared on several of Donovan's albums, including Fairytale (on which Phillips is credited as writer of "Little Tin Soldier"), Sunshine Superman, and Mellow Yellow. Through Donovan, he met The Beatles and contributed backing vocals on "Lovely Rita". He is also credited with teaching George Harrison his first lessons on the sitar.
In 2011, Philips rejoined Donovan at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a reunion of the Sunshine Superman album, featuring guest star Jimmy Page.
Phillips played the character Paul Taylor in the 1966 film Run with the Wind, which he also wrote songs for.
In 1967, Phillips left England after his work permit expired. After a period in Paris, he moved to Positano in Italy, while continuing to tour. Phillips returned to England to write and perform with The Djinn, the music for the controversial Jane Arden play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven at the Arts Laboratory on Drury Lane in London in February 1969. Sponsored by Dick James, he also recorded material with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood of Traffic. This was intended to become a trilogy of albums, combining songs together with instrumental pieces and verse readings. He was signed by A&M Records, but they decided to release only one album, comprising only Phillips' songs, which was released as Contribution (1970). The album, which ranged from folk rock to "introspective quasi-classical guitar pieces" was relatively successful, and Phillips released a string of further albums on A&M through the 1970s, starting with Second Contribution (1970), and Collaboration (1971).
Spirituality
As can be evidenced throughout his lyrics, Shawn was undoubtedly a very spiritual man throughout the 1970s; it is suggested that Phillips' spirituality has never left him. Indeed, he remarked in an interview how: ‘Everything I write is guided by a spiritual experience that I once had when I was in my early 20s. This was not a vision; it was an organic, instantaneous physical state of being that changed my life and my entire existence.’
Although there is no avert allegiance to any group or ’Way’, Phillips' songs seem to suggest very clearly -and very enthusiastically, the Spiritual/nondual Realisation. In Second Contribution’s ‘Song for Sagittarians’ for example, he sang how:
‘And it's brighter than the Sunlight, Purer than the moonlight!
And it's drawing me towards it -Like the moth out of the night!..
And I know I’ll arrive -where there ain't no time, -non-conventional plane of joy, sublime!…’
Phillips also shows this enthusiasm and encouragement for 'enlightenment' in every song; an example the whole lyrics of Second Contribution.
He also talks of it as part-and-parcel of his life.
Family and personal life
Before moving to Louisville, Kentucky in 2016 with his wife, Juliette, and then-12-year-old son Liam (named after his younger brother), Phillips lived in Italy and in South Africa.
Phillips's uncle, David Atlee Phillips, was a top CIA officer who was associated with the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
Discography
Live albums
Living Contribution: Both Sides (2007) Sheer Sound
At the BBC (2009) Hux Records
Live in the Seventies (2022) Think Like A Key Music
Outrageous (2024) [with Peter Robinson] Think Like A Key Music
Greatest hits
Best of Shawn Phillips (1990)
The Best of Shawn Phillips: The A&M Years (1992)
Another Contribution: Anthology (1995)
Contribution/Second Contribution (2004)
Singles
"A Christmas Song" (1970, A&M AMS-819)
"We" (US #89, 1972, A&M 1402)
"Lost Horizon" (US #63, #20 CAN-AC), 1973, A&M 1405)
"Anello (Where Are You)" (1973, A&M 1435)
"Bright White" (1973, A&M 1482) (#62 Canada)
"Do You Wonder" (1974, A&M 1750) (#89 Canada)
Collaborations
1965 – Fairytale by Donovan: 12-string guitar on "Summer Day Reflection Song" and "Jersey Thursday", wrote "The Little Tin Soldier"
1966 – Sunshine Superman by Donovan: sitar on 6 songs and co-wrote "Season Of The Witch" but was not credited
1967 – Mellow Yellow by Donovan: sitar on "Sunny South Kensington"
1969 – If Only For A Moment by Blossom Toes: guitar and sitar
1970 – Into The Fire by Wynder K. Frog: co-wrote, played guitar and sang on "Eddie's Tune"
1971 – Taupin by Bernie Taupin: co-wrote "To a Grandfather", "Today's Hero", "Ratcatcher" and "The Visitor"; played sitar, acoustic and electric 6 & 12 string guitars, koto and vocals
1971 – Say No More by Linda Lewis: guitar
1971 – Gilbert Montagné by Gilbert Montagné: guitar
1972 - Suàn/Naus by Armando Piazza: bass, fuzz-bass, guitar
1973 – New York Rock by Michael Kamen: co-wrote "Hot as the Sun" and "Indian Summer"
1980 – Cosmic Debris by Cosmic Debris: guitar, synthesizer and engineering
1981 – Keys by Light: vocals on "It's For You Part I" and "It's For You Part II"