Unfortunately, due to the ongoing global pandemic uncertainty, my autumn 2021 and January 2022 shows will be postponed. Please revisit grantleephillips.com for the rescheduled dates.There will also be future shows announced soon for Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium. Stay safe and looking forward to seeing you soon. The dates below begin in Paris, starting April 2022. I return to Europe in December 2022 and January 2023.
GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS TOUR DATES 2022 / 2023
Oct. 4, 2021
Hey Friends,
It’s Grant-Lee with an autumnal dispatch. I hope the season finds you in good spirits. I have a couple of items to share with you.
All That You Can Dream
I have a brand new song that I want to tell you about! It's called "All That You Can Dream." Earlier this year, when I realized that I wouldn't be touring for some time, I turned my attention to writing and recording at home. I found respite in the process when I could do little else. It became a sort of meditation on this time in my life and the events that we've experineced over these many months. Consequently, this turned out to be a productive period.
On October 1, my new single “All That You Can Dream” will be released exclusively on @Bandcamp! You can download the song here: https://ffm.to/allthatyoucandream A grateful tip-o-the-hat to Bandcamp for waiving their share of sales on this day to support artists during COVID-19. I recorded the song at home in Nashville this summer, working remotely with musicians in Los Angeles. Drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Jennifer Condos both appear on this recording.
I offer these thoughts on the song. All of us are engaged in a collective dream. In this dream, we have a choice between a world that’s hospitable or one that’s brutal. We face a struggle between the visionary and the cynical. In this way, there’s a duel meaning in “All That You Can Dream.” - the possibility of betterment or the inevitably of collapse. I often think of Charlie Chaplin in the film "Modern Times." That image of one little man about to be chewed up by monstrous gears. “The wheels of progress grinding” as the song goes." It’s a very hypnotic recording, one that I wrote on piano. The arrangement bloomed with the addition of 12 string guitar, keys, bass, drums and vocal layering.
The artwork for the digital single features one of my original oil paintings. Music and painting have become a dual passions. The rural parts of Tennessee are readymade for a frame. Living here has inspired me to paint every hay-roll and silo that I encounter. The openness of this particular scene felt like a natural companion to the new song. Both the song and the painting were created in the same period.
YULETIDE EP ON GREEN VINYL
My holiday EP ‘Yuletide’ is coming out on vinyl! It will be available on Record Store Day - Black Friday, in participating record stores. That's November 26th! Mark your calendar. It includes my original song “Winterglow” along with some seasonal favorites of mine. This is the first time that the collection will be available on vinyl. A very elfin green vinyl, I might add! Check out “Yuletide” at your local record store: recordstoreday.com @recordstoreday The EP cover art features two original paintings - inspired by the icy harbors of Norway in winter, where I’ve spent ample time, and the blanket of white that fell here in Nashville, last winter.
TOUR DATES
Looking ahead to 2022, I’ll be continuing to post new tour dates as they go up on the calendar. I appreciate your understanding, given the reshuffling of shows that was unavoidable under the global circumstances. At this time, I have tour dates starting in April 2022, continuing into the 2022 and beyond. Visit grantleephillips.com and click on TOUR tab for all dates and Tickets. https://www.grantleephillips.com/
In closing, I look forward to gathering with you in person and to better days ahead for all of us. In my experience, there is no greater catharsis than the simple act of sharing music. I’m eager for that day.
My best, Grant-Lee Phillips
PHOTO: PETER ERIKSSON @photographerpeter
Grant-Lee Phillips on New Album “Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff”
“Come on lightning, show us your stuff. The words of my young daughter, as she thrust a manzanita branch toward the night sky. Kids being kids, I figured…then I heard the thunderclap.”
Grant-Lee Phillips’ latest album, Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff, is a turbulent and highly musical rumination that finds the veteran singer-songwriter addressing the strange fragility of life. His tenth solo release bears the markings of his prolific output, a melodic prowess and an ear for lyric in everyday conversation.
The album offers a salve to a wounded world, struggling to regain equilibrium. This is Grant-Lee Phillips at his most reflective, wrestling with the most pertinent of questions. What we value, how we define security, our vulnerability – here Phillips takes stock of the deeper questions with intensity and humor.
56 year old Phillips wryly proclaims, “Ain’t Done Yet.” He still has plenty to say and “more dreaming left to do.” Commenting on some of the new tracks he says, “There’s definitely a questioning - I notice it on my more direct or confessional songs like Mourning Dove. I think about the people we are when we come into the world, how we get beat up along the way and sometimes corrupted in pursuit of some brass ring. As the line goes, the things we chase that can’t be kept.” He continues, “I’ll admit it’s that nagging tendency to question everything that inspires a song like Drawing the Head and even when I’m writing through the voice of a character, as I am with Straight to the Ground.”
His last work, Widdershins, reflected the recent and radical shift in the American social climate - a world turned upside down. “I’ve tackled some of this head-on at times, addressing the inequities of this country, trying to get a few jabs in. Ultimately, I came back to the most interesting and fertile topic - our vulnerability and the scars we have to share with one another.”
Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff is grown from the same rich soil that Phillip’s long career, from Grant Lee Buffalo to his solo work has sprang from. The result is a beautifully human musical tapestry. The warm, live on the floor, instrumental bed is the perfect support for Phillips’ inimitable voice. This spontaneous approach has become a tradition among his solo works.
This record is supported by peerless drummer, Jay Bellerose (whose many credits include Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant) and bassist Jennifer Condos (heard on Bruce Springsteen’s Ghost of Tom Joad and other classics). On pedal-steel Eric Heywood lends impressionistic touches (Son Volt, The Jayhawks and Joe Henry). LA session musician Danny T. Levin voices a symphony of unusual horns; the euphonium, trombonium and coronet punctuates the tracks,” Leave a Light On,” “Sometimes You Wake Up in Charleston” and the album opener, “Ain’t Done Yet.”
Phillips sums up his inspiration, “These days, I’m interested in writing about the quiet lives of people who are wrestling to hang on, trying to retain dignity, fighting back forces beyond their control. Ultimately, so much is out of our control. Confronting our dependence on one another can sometimes leave us feeling uneasy and yet we are inseparably linked. Music reminds of us of our connection to each other and I remain in awe of it. I’m not interested in pinning the songs down or reducing their mystery. I’m attempting to capture a sliver of time.”
VISIT THE STORE! YOU’LL FIND AUTOGRAPHED VINYL, T SHIRTS AND MORE! CLICK HERE!
Management
TOMMY MANZI / UMBRELLA GROUP MANAGEMENT
425 W. 23 STREET, SUITE 1BB
NEW YORK, NY 10011
212.785.1133
email: thomasmanzi {at} mac {dot} com
Publishing: Storm Hymnal Ltd. (BMI) & Chrysalis Music Ltd. (World Excluding N. America).
For licensing, publishing and other inquiries contact Tommy Manzi
Booking: USA
Mike Leahy
Concerted Efforts
Ph 617-969-0810
mike@concertedefforts.com
Booking: INTERNATIONAL
Paul McGivern
Pitch & Smith Ltd
13 Hague Street
London, E2 6HN, United Kingdom
e: paul@pitchandsmith.com
Tel. +44 (0)20-3637 3361
