Paul Phillips
Every Time I Leave
visit Paul's website
to learn more or purchase this
album along with others
also on myspace
This singer/songwriter’s web page says that he is based in Marblehead Mass., however there is a very strong undercurrent of southern gospel in his singing and his presentation; even the pictures have more of a feel of rural Georgia. This is a disc that contains 10 of his well-crafted story songs. You can hear his influences in the songs such as The Jayhawks, Neil Young, and even a bit of Robert Johnson. The songs are played with an acoustic band behind him that is quite tight with some electric guitar leads that are tastefully played. There is not much info with the disc but I would assume from their tightness that they have done some roadwork together; the tightness that the road inflicts on a band shows itself in subtle ways.
This is not the longest of CDs and if it is a debut disc it might not have been a bad idea to do a cover song from one of his influences, to give the listener that is new to his music an idea of how he creates distance from these influences. This is just a thought as the disc is only roughly 33 minutes give or take; there is also something to be said for keeping it all his own songs. This is a very good disc, the songs are strong in content and also have good story lines; the backing musicians are vital and solid behind him. We should look forward to future discs that contain growth and more experimentation.
