Grant-Lee Phillips
shares second single “The Wilderness”
New album Widdershins out 23rd February
UK tour April 2018
“Widdershins…it’s an old word. Moving counterclockwise, spiraling backwards. This album begs the question, “In what direction are we moving?” – Grant-Lee Phillips
“I’m drawing from the urgency of the moment,” says acclaimed Nashville-based singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips of Widdershins, his ninth solo album set for February 23, 2018 release on Yep Roc Records. Inspired by “the things that eat away in the late hours,” Phillips invests the insight, nuance and wit in a riveting dissection of today’s fraught social landscape.
Following on from his first single, “Totally You Gunslinger”, Phillips has now shared a new track from his album – “The Wildnerness” premiered on The Big Takeover. Of the track, Phillips explains, “There’s a dangerous tribalism, something in our nature that falls prey to hazy conclusions. Allies and adversaries are assigned accordingly, us vs. them. It’s a trait so easily aroused and vulnerable to manipulation. As the song goes, we never left the wilderness.”
“I made a commitment to myself not to sink into despair,” explains Phillips, “I’m tracing a longer narrative here. We’ve been through some of this before – not just our country, but the civilization as a whole.” Phillips sees in Widdershins a connection to his earliest work with Grant Lee Buffalo. “That was also a time of intense social anxiety. The Gulf War, the LA riots – everything became cranked up. Then a few years later there was the earthquake we lived through, which also made for a time of uneasiness. I was in a heightened state when I wrote that stuff – as I am now.”
The California-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, actor, film composer and visual artist began his career in the early ‘90s as the frontman of the acclaimed trio Grant-Lee Buffalo. Once named “male vocalist of the year” by Rolling Stone, USA Today called him a “soulful balladeer” while Uncut hailed him as a “distinguished U.S. songwriter.
Catch Grant-Lee Phillips on tour next year!
UK TOUR DATES:
April 18 — Hare & Hounds — Birmingham
April 19 — Philharmonic Music Room — Liverpool
April 20 — Deaf Institute — Manchester
April 21 — King Tuts — Glasgow
April 22 — Brudenell Social Club — Leeds
April 24 — Portland Arms — Cambridge
April 25 — The Lantern — Bristol
- Walk In Circles
- Unruly Mobs
- King of Catastrophes
- Something’s Gotta Give
- Scared Stiff
- Miss Betsy
- The Wilderness
- Another, Another, Then Boom
- Totally You Gunslinger
- History Has Their Number
- Great Acceleration
- Liberation
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