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NEWS FROM KELLY JOE
May 1, 2013
Hello
folks,
Firstly, thank you all so very much for the kindness, patience, well-wishings, and helpful suggestions that have been rolling in since January, when I was forced to take a lengthy breather due to an unexpected and surprising ulnar nerve issue in my right arm. Fortunately, I’m able to tell you that thru both rest and therapy the healing is coming around, sensation is returning, and my picking hand is starting to work like normal again. It’ll be another few months yet before I can get back to work, but come this summertime I’ll start getting out there again with both hands working fine, and picking a couple of very lonely guitars!
Secondly, apologies to both fans and promoters for ending up with so many cancelled shows during the first half of this year. I hope to make as many of those up as I can over the course of the rest of this year and the top of next year. I’m just now starting to be able to look toward re-scheduling, so over the next few months I’ll be posting new tour dates and news as it comes in. It may take a while, it may be a slower process
than you or I wish it were, but we’ll get it fixed up sooner or later, one way or the other. Sorry for all of this, folks.
Lastly, I do have some immediate tour news to report; in September I’ll be making up quite a few of those U.K.
tour dates I had to cancel back in January. I’ll be over from September 5th thru the 29th, so you can have a look
at the new posted dates and see if something fits your home base or schedule. I’m also teaching a workshop and
performing a concert at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in Healdsburg, California on August 11th, just north of
Santa Rosa. There will be a lot of wonderful luthiers there and some great players performing as well, so that
ought to be fantastic fun. I’m going to try to get more dates plugged in while I’m down that way, so keep
your eyes on the schedule and perhaps we’ll see one another somewhere under the California sun!
Thank you again, really and truly, for extending such kindness my way. I’m humbled by it, inspired by it, and
deeply grateful for it. I hope to repay the kindness to each of you with the gift of song and the healing waters
of music, and soon at that. Take good care until then, and I’ll do the same.
Peace and be well,
Kelly Joe |
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NEW VIDEO: "HARD TIME THEY NEVER GO AWAY"
Check
out a live
video of "Hard
Time They Never Go Away," a track from the latest
album "Brother
Sinner & The Whale" recorded in Berkeley, California
on October 17th, 2012. |
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BROTHER SINNER AND THE WHALE
ORDER
THE NEW CD DIRECTLY FROM BLACK HEN
MUSIC
PURCHASE ALL OTHER KELLY JOE RELEASES AT KELLY
JOE'S OFFICIAL STORE
Click
here for the "Brother Sinner & The Whale" lyrics pages and the Bible verses that correspond with
the songs themselves, including the instrumentals.
Hello
Everyone,
The
new record “Brother
Sinner And The Whale” is out now! This
record is going to be a fun one to roll along
with; it’s got a lot of light streaming thru the windows,
and all the doors are wide open. A dozen songs full, half
of which are played on a National slide guitar, and the other
half on a Martin D-35 (a black Johnny Cash model at that!),
ten of ‘em sung, and a pair of instrumentals as well.
Really looking forward to getting this out to you folks.
By the way; here’s a link to a new KJP
interview in ‘No Depression’ that
describes in far more detail what the record is all about.
Beyond that, friends, the tour calendar continues to fill out,
and will continue to do so. Check back often to see if I’ve managed to find my way near enough
to you so that we’ll get to share some of this new music. Black Hen Music
has also started a facebook
page for ol’ KJP, which they run and interact with,
so thanks to them for continuing to spread the word. They’ve posted two
videos of the new songs, too, so you can get a head start on what the record
is going to sound like. Here’s
the link.
Thanks again, all of you, for the continuing support, for coming
out to the shows, for sharing this music of mine with those
around you in both the earth-world and the cyber-streets. Say
hello when you can, take good care, find peace.
Best of everything,
Kelly Joe Phelps |
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NEW TRACK "TALKING TO JEHOVA" RELEASED
Visit
the Press section to read
a review and listen to the first song
released from 'Brother Sinner And The Whale' here! |
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UPDATE FROM KELLY JOE
Hi
Folks,
Excited to say I’m back on the road touring solo again! Fleming
Artists and I have teamed back up, and they will be booking my shows throughout
the U.S. and Canada, as well as Australia. We started working together back in
1997, so we have a long, successful, and happy road behind us with the bright
future right up ahead. Looking forward to seeing you all out there.
I’ve been booked back in to the Montreal
Jazz Festival this year, which I’ve always loved performing at. I’ve
also been booked into The International Guitar Festival in northern Quebec, which
is going to be loaded with great guitar players from around the world, so you
guitar fans can check that out, too. And a return to the Capilano College concert
series in Vancouver, B.C. which is another of my long-standing favorites. Europe
is being looked at now, as well, so maybe I’ll see you in Paris or Amsterdam Keep
your eyes on the tour schedule,
find something that works for you, and come out and say hello.
I’ll be recording a new solo record up in B.C. during the first week of
April with my long-time friend and advice master Steve
Dawson, and it will be coming out on his label “Black Hen” somewhere
around the end of August/middle of September. It’s going to be just me
playing and singing and, for you slide fans, I’m going to be doing some
of that as well. I was hoping I’d be re-inspired at some point to pick
the slide back up, and thankfully I have been. The guitars are happy, and so
am I.
Lastly, I’ve got three gigs coming up in March with a new ace musical friend
of mine, Cahalen Morrison.
We’ll
be playing at the Green Frog in Bellngham, WA, the Tractor
Tavern in
Ballard, and the Alberta
Rose Theater in
Portland. This is going to be a fun and wild string-ride, so you Home-In-The-Northwest
fans might want to get the babysitter and the gas money together and come along
with us. We’re really looking forward to these shows, grins and all.
Take good care, and thanks so much for the continuing help and support.
Now let’s go,
Kelly Joe Phelps |
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WESTERN BELL
Western
Bell is Kelly Joe's 2009 release on the label Black
Hen. This is the first all-solo instrumental album including
6 string and 12 string guitars as well as a return to lap-slide
on three pieces. |
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WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY ABOUT WESTERN
BELL
“Western
Bell is among the most unique
acoustic guitar recordings out there today. Cryptic, hushed,
confoundingly beautiful, this is a brilliant, deeply moving
work by an artist who has created a new language on the acoustic
guitar, culled from the discontinued speech fragments of American
music's own mysterious past.” -Thom Jurek, AllMusicGuide
read more->
“His eighth
album of solo acoustic guitar improvisation
should be enough to land him status in the company of legends,
if he isn’t there already. Like a hero of the
high plains, roaming nameless to wherever God deems his services
necessary, Phelps speaks directly to your soul. If that isn’t
the stuff of legends, I don’t know what is.” -Filmore
Mescalito Holmes, PopMatters
read
more->
“On this latest opus he dispenses with the oblique wordplay
that marks his usual output and concentrates instead on his
considerable skill with six strings and piece of wood. The
results, while typically idiosyncratic, are as remarkable and
offbeat as you'd expect from a man of such proven talent.” -Chris
Jones, BBC
read more->
“One might call it "free blues" as it seems
firmly rooted in Delta blues, but is filled with harmonic and
rhythmic twists and turns. Every guitarist alive should own
this album.” -David Reid, The Intelligencer
read
more->
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MISSISSIPPI
SHEIKS TRIBUTE ALBUM
"Things
'Bout Comin' My Way" is the title of the Mississippi
Sheiks Tribute album released on October
20th on Black
Hen Music. The Mississippi Sheiks are a highly under-appreciated
country blues group that recorded throughout the 1930's. Featuring
all new performances of the fantastic material of the Sheiks,
the tribute covers everything from traditional to avant-garde
takes on their classic repertoire. Along with Kelly Joe, the
lineup for the tribute also includes John Hammond, Bill Frisell,
Geoff Muldaur, Madeleine Peyroux, Bruce Cockburn, Jim Byrnes,
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ndidi Onukwulu, Del Rey, Bob Brozman,
Robin Holcomb, The North Mississippi Allstars, Oh Susanna with
Van Dyke Parks, Danny Barnes, The Sojourners, and Steve Dawson. |
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LIVE VIDEOS FROM BERKELEY, CA FILMED
FEBRUARY 21st, 2009 |
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Flash
8 required |
Check
out
videos for the songs "Country
Blues" from the record
'Shine Eyed Mister Zen,'
"Beggar's
Oil" from the record 'Sky
Like a Broken Clock,' and "Window
Grin" from the record 'Slingshot
Professionals' recorded
live at the Freight & Salvage
in Berkeley, California on February 21st, 2009. |
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VIDEOS FROM BERKELEY, CA 01/24/08 |

WATCH VIDEO
Flash
8 required |
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Watch
a video for the song "Tight
to the Jar" and "Plumb
Line" from the record 'Tunesmith
Retrofit' recorded
live at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, California on
January 24th, 2008. |
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POP!TECH VIDEO
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Watch Kelly
Joe performing a few tunes from his visit to Pop!Tech last
year. |
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VIDEO & INTERVIEW FROM OPB
Kelly
Joe stopped by OPB (Oregon
Public Broadcasting Studios.. Oregon's NPR Station) in Portland, Oregon
to play some songs and talks about his early performing career as a
jazz bassist, improvisation, moving to fingerstyle and slide guitar,
welcoming the muse, and finding his voice over the years as a singer.
Check it out here! |
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