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Stripmall Ballads
"Carl Sandburg Meets Elvis in a Dark Alley...."
While compared by some reviewers to Woody Guthrie, Kurt Cobain adn A.P. Carter, Stripmall Ballads has developed a style entirely his own: poetic, dark, energetic, possessed, and reluctantly romantic. An obvious devote student of US roots musical tradition, he fuses virtuosic historical convention with contemporary lyrics. Not afraid of musical experimentation or the power of words, his prolific performances and recordings have earned him a reputation for being somwhere in between "a fire and brimstone preacher and a beat poet."
Phillips Saylor's ability to take a crowd from stomping their feet to quiet reflection and back again is the result of nearly a decade of non-stop touring and performing across North America; from his early days playing shows to hobos under Maryland's railroad bridges to recent collaborations with some of new-folks most talented performers (Jolie Holland, Sam Parton). With a new album, "Hooked", slated for release in 2009, Stripmall Ballads continues to evolve and surprise.
After five years of fronting the old-time revival duo, The Shiftless Rounders (featuring Ben Sidelinger), Phillips created Stripmall Ballads as a vehicle to focus on his original compositions and contextual performances. For the last year Stripmall Ballads has toured excessively across North America promoting latest album, "Since Jimmy Died."
"SINCE JIMMY DIED is fractured and flawed.......and for those reasons it is also hauntingly gorgeous, melding Appalachian roots with intimate, Beat poet-esque lyrical ruminations." - Seven Days (burlington, vt)
about "Since Jimmy Died" - "Since Jimmy Died is Phill, his guitar, some beautifully written songs and his voice with that country twang and that’s it and it’s PERFECT. This is music played with raw emotion and full of sincerity and it’s to be admired." (youcrazydreamers.com - UK)
"THIS IS ALSO THE SOUNDTRACK OF A FULL OUT CHAMPIONSHIP DEMON-WRESTLING MATCH, WITH MOST OF THE SLAMDOWNS MADE HIS PRETERNATURALLY WEARY VOICE, CRACKED LIKE THE BOTTOM OF AN OLD FINE BONE CHINA CUP. THE ALBUM POSITS A KIND OF PUNK BLUEGRASS, WITH HIS DELIVERY CRISSCROSSING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN GUTHRIE-ESQUE FOLKSINGING, BEATNIK POETRY AND COUNTRY HELLFIRE PREACHING AS HE RANGERS ACROSS SUBJECT MATTER AS DIVERSE AS 9/11 FALLOUT, SCHOOLCHILD PREJUDICE AND MONSTROUSLY BLEAK DEPRESSIONS." (review of "13 Songs")
"Introspective darkness offering honest and vivid stories you just don't get in music these days." (Eugene Weekly)
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