Guitar sensation at KM Theatre
Blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Kelly Joe Phelps plays the KM Theatre in Kalispell on Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Phelps plays acoustic country blues with an achingly beautiful melancholy that is the emotional core of the music and the definitive trait of so many of the genre's legends: Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi Fred McDowell.
In 1997, Rykodisc released Phelps' label debut, "Roll Away the Stone," a collection of the singer-songwriter's originals as well as a handful of classics.
Phelps further established himself as perhaps the foremost living practitioner of acoustic slide guitar with his next Ryko recording, "Shine Eyed Mister Zen," released in 1999.
On "Sky Like A Broken Clock," his first album to feature a full band with string bass and drums, with occasional organ and harmonica, Phelps is now doing for finger-picking what he has done for slide guitar - showing a mastery and appreciation of the giants of the genre (Doc Watson, Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt) but taking it in new and original directions.
Phelps raised the musical bar with his compelling 2003 collection of songs on his fourth full-length Rykodisc release, "Slingshot Professionals." Replete with Phelps' singular guitar sound, soulful vocals and lyrics won through experience, "Slingshot Professionals" delivers music, at once both fresh and mature, ensuring Phelps a place among our most accomplished performing songwriters.
"Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind" is Phelps' most recent release, performed solo in concert.
Produced by Lee Townsend, the new CD is pure Phelps at his finest recorded in the intimate environments of two venues in which he has been performing for a long time - McCabe's in Santa Monica and The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley.
The CD includes seven favorite Kelly Joe originals, including "Jericho," "Tommy," "Not So Far to Go," "Fleashine," "Cardboard Box of Batteries," "Gold Tooth" and "Waiting for Marty" plus astonishing versions of two classic cover songs - "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" by Skip James and "I Am the Light of the World" by the Rev. Gary Davis.
A brilliant improviser, Phelps is known for his ability to put a new spin on a song every time he plays.
"For me, the direction is always forward. I learn, experiment, experience, apply. Everything I'm doing now is deeply rooted in what I've done before, coupled with whatever sense of vision I've been fortunate enough to receive," he said. "I no more want to play, sing or write the way I did five years ago than want to live the life I had then."
Tickets are $14 and are available at Montana Coffee Traders in downtown Whitefish and Kalispell, Noice Gallery in Kalispell and Red's Wines & Blues in Kalispell.
The concert is part of the Montana Radio Cafe Music Series.