Shawn phillips singer biography paper

Guitarist, songwriter, singer, and sitarist Shawn Phillips boasts a five-decade career that has left critics and audiences wondering how to categorize the type of music that he performs. Initially identified as a folk-rock singer-songwriter in the manner of s musical stars James Taylor, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne, Phillips subsequently released albums that were alternately labeled progressive rock or art rock.

Regardless of their classifications, each of his releases display Phillips's three-octave vocal range and adeptness on six- and twelve-string guitar. He is also noted for his collaborations with British folk-rock singer Donovan Leitch and for his minor participation in the recording of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Phillips described his varied career to Albert Salerno in a Discoveries magazine article archived on Phillips's website: "I have chosen to be a musician. I discovered early in life that I had what I consider the greatest gift any individual can be given--the ability to create music.

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Not rock and roll, but music. Phillips was born on February 3, , in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, James Atlee Phillips, was a journalist who wrote a series of mystery and espionage novels in the s about the Cold War under the pseudonym James Atlee. According to Phillips, in the Discoveries interview with Salerno, his father "was a great influence on my creativity.

He said 'You need to write with anger, with wonder, and with technique. Anger is, when you look at the world around you, is it a perfect place? If you think it is, then you're probably certifiable. Wonder comes from looking at the world through the eyes of a child.