Kelly Joe Phelps

KELLY JOE PHELPS

By Terry Sullivan

Table of Contentspage

Introduction...... 2

Musical History...... 5

Musical Influences...... 6

Musical Theory...... 10

Playing Style...... 12

Equipment...... 15

Tunings...... 19

Straight Guitar Technique...... 20

Lap Guitar Technique...... 21

Songs Played...... 29

Song and Singing Techniques...... 31

Song Writing...... 33

Performing Live...... 34

Recording...... 37

Conclusion...... 39

Austin, Texas

Introduction

As with many guitar players, I’ve gone through many peaks and valleys with my musical experiences. I joined my first rhythm and blues band when I was in the fifth grade. We called ourselves the Changing Times. Since then, the times have really changed. I’ve been in many bands over the years and have played all types of music from blues and country to jazz. I truly needed a totally new perspective on the music I was locked into. I had a great need to move forward with my music because I knew I had reached a plateau with my guitar playing as well as with my singing. Everything I played and sang felt and sounded old and overplayed. I was ready for a change, and a new direction.

After years of playing a pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster guitar in a three-piece blues band format, I decided to unplug and focus solely on acoustic, fingerstyle, straight and lap guitar playing. To accomplish this goal, I spent hours looking for new sources of inspiration and creativity. I traded CD’s like baseball cards and burnt out two cassette recorders while picking up several new songs and licks note-for-note. Then one day, while returning from a local music shop in Dallas, Texas, I had the most wonderful fortune of hearing Kelly Joe Phelps play and sing on a pre-recorded radio talk show out of Austin, Texas. It was by sheer chance that I just happened to tune my radio to a public broadcast that was airing an interview with Kelly Joe Phelps. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Kelly Joe made his lap guitar sound like a grand piano, and his voice had the soul of Muddy Waters. His free-spirited, improvisational creative approach just blew me away. I literally ran my car off the road to listen to this most creative fingerstyle player.

The Old Days…

After this radio show ended, and I came back to earth, I literally raced home to order Kelly Joe’s CD’s over the Internet. Thus began my quest to understand Kelly Joe Phelps, his music and his singing and playing styles; and where and how he grew into such a fabulous musician. As a result, for the last couple of years, I have totally submerged myself into Kelly Joe’s approach to playing both lap- and straight-style fingerpicking acoustic guitar and singing techniques.

With a lot of work, I have learned several of his lap and straight guitar tunes. I play his tunes live in front of my audiences. His music grabs their hearts and souls. For example, the day after the September 11 Tragedy, I had the opportunity to play one of Kelly Joe’s recorded lap songs “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” at a prayer session at work. We had lost friends on this most tragic day. A large group of us (around forty people) were trying to make sense out of what had happened at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. I realized then the power of Kelly Joe’s music. This tune moved my audience so much that I had to learn more. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. So, I decided to pay the money for hotel, travel and registration for a once-in-a-lifetime musical learning experience with the man himself. My visit gave me the most wonderful fortune of spending nearly four days with the master of acoustic guitar at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Southern Ohio. This unique opportunity allowed me to experience first-hand how this extremely talented man made music with just a metal steel bar, six strings and a guitar.

It’s not unusual for me to get totally involved with a creative project. So, I have spent several months refining my Fur Peace Ranch notes, listening to Kelly Joe’s music and practicing his playing and singing approach until my fingers and throat have turned raw in order to know how to play in the light of Kelly’s style. It’s a process that is hard to explain. Kelly’s music has to be part of you. You can’t be thinking about what you are trying to do. It just has to flow like a waterfall with the momentum taking you over the edge only to fall back down to earth to float down the sullen stream out to ocean. This learning morphing process has helped me leap off of my plateau and move forward with more new songs and styles, more inspiration than I could have ever dreamed possible.

This summary is my gift to you, my notes from my experiences with Kelly Joe Phelps as well as subsequent learning’s I acquired from my friends. I hope you will find them as rewarding and helpful as I have. One last thing… I want to take this time to thank Jean-François, my dear friend from France. He has inspired me in so many ways to learn more and play better, as well as complete this summary. “Thanks Jean-François for being such a wonderful soul. Your kindness is a virtue like no other. I hope you will come to Texas one day to play the club circuits with me.” If you haven’t already done so, check out his wonderful web site, it is chalked full of nuggets of inspiration. You can access his most wonderful web site at:

Please e-mail me at should you have questions or comments.

Happy playing and singing…

Terry Sullivan

Musical History

Kelly’s Family and Musical Development History

Kelly’s earliest childhood musical memories were watching and listening to his family play music. He was raised with the idea that music was something you did, not something you listened to. Kelly’s entire family, including his mom, dad, sister and brother, all played musical instruments. His dad and mom played piano and guitar. For the most part, his parents loved and played country western music such as Buck Owens and Hank Snow. He also has an older brother that is eleven years older than Kelly as well as an older sister. Kelly thought little in those early days of becoming a musician.

Kelly joined the school band as a drummer during his fifth grade year and continued playing drums throughout his high school years. He also took piano lessons at the age of eight because his sister played piano. It was around this time he started playing guitar informally when he was twelve years old when his Dad handed him a guitar and taught Kelly a Lightnin’ Hopkins riff and a couple of Hank Williams country tunes. He was also really impressed by Jimmy Page’s guitar playing on the first two Led Zeppelin records. This is where he started his life-long journey of picking up riffs from records. He would work hours upon hours in attempt to figure out what various guitar players were doing with their music. He would play and learn a song three notes at a time, over and over again until he would pick up the song, note-for-note. Kelly said he had worn out many 33 albums by lifting up the needle off the record, over-and-over again.

How Did Kelly Joe Get Into Playing Lapstyle Guitar?

Kelly Joe Phelps began our first music lesson at the Fur Peace Ranch by describing why and how he got into playing lapstyle guitar. He was looking for a way to get out of his “musician’s rut.” He had been playing free-style jazz as a fretless bass player for a number of years, and found himself looking for a new direction. He said all guitarists fall into these types of “holes,” or “plateaus” that they can’t escape. Playing the lapstyle guitar brought him out of his rut. His personal choice to move into a new direction of playing opened up his entire creative world.

There are many reasons why Kelly Joe moved to playing lap guitar. He likes the tonal quality produced by playing his guitar in his lap with a steel bar (“slide”) in left hand much better than the tones that are produced when playing a conventional (“straight”) guitar. Kelly doesn’t like “bright, brittle tones. A steel bar helps bring out a richer, darker, broader tone. Additionally, Playing lap guitar feels more natural to Kelly Joe even though he originally didn’t know what he was doing with it. He likes the fact that the lap guitar is a “fretless instrument.” With the bottleneck approach, a player must use the conventional guitar chord forms. However, lapstyle guitar playing frees up the player and provides many more tonal options than the straight guitar can provide. After several years of playing lap acoustic guitar, Kelly Joe has invented and perfected a truly unique creative way of expressing himself.

Kelly Joe was determined to play the blues professionally, so he put the names of various local cafes that offered gigs for tips and free meals on a stack of 3” by 5” index cards and set off for his new music career path. He played in these small venues for years as an acoustic country blues artist. This is also where he taught himself to sing.

Playing in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon is one of the few cities in the country where a musician can make a living without touring across the country. There is a lot of audience and club support, and the cost of living is very low. So, musicians can actually make a living there.

Musical Influences

Throughout the four days I spent with Kelly Joe, he referenced many influences. It’s true that Kelly Joe did work hard on figuring out their musical approaches; however, he later realized he didn’t want to be locked into the same song with the exact same notes. He would get very bored with this approach from a playing perspective. So instead, he would look to the guitar greats (some of which are listed below) for inspiration and then work endlessly trying to put his own slant on the creative work of others. Here are just a few of Kelly Joe’s comments concerning his many musical influences:

John Standefer and I at his guitar clinic at the

Lighthouse Church, near Fort Worth, Texas

John Standefer is a fascinating man, full of inspirational energy, and a fantastic guitar player. He is a religious instructor who has influenced thousands of guitar players from around the country over the years, including Kelly Joe Phelps. He owns and operates a guitar clinic on wheels called The Praise Guitar Workshop

He was a major influence on Kelly Joe’s playing style. John Standefer was a hometown guitar guru who opened the door for a new fingerstyle style approach for Kelly Joe at the young age of seventeen. I had the wonderful fortune of attending John’s guitar workshop in Fort Worth, Texas. John is an expert on every aspect of guitar fingerstyle playing. He plays Chet Atkins better than anyone I have ever heard. He also has an article in Fingerstyle Magazine (comes out every other month). If you get a chance, attend John’s workshop. It will really open up your playing.

Fred McDowell’s album, Long Way From home, was a major musical influence for Kelly. As Kelly put it “This album really did it for me.” He described an experience Leo Kottke had shared with him some time ago. One night, Leo went to a Fred McDowell concert, and Fred McDowell invited him up to play his guitar and sing. Leo couldn’t play Fred’s guitar at all, not one lick, because the action was set up so high with huge, worn out strings. He also had a matchbook under one of the strings at the nut to raise that action. So, no one could possible play this guitar, not even Leo Kottke, and give it justice, other than Fred McDowell himself. Leo just handed Fred’s guitar back to the owner and sat down in total frustration.

“Robert Pete Williamswas the greatest country-blues improviser. Williams didn't know (memorize) his songs or lyrics. Instead, he would just start singing without recalling the exact words or the melodies. He was a true improviser.”

Ornette Coleman

Kelly said: “At first, I hated Willams’ and Colemans’ work because I didn't understand where they were coming from. Later, I grew to understand and play their music. They helped inspire my inprovational style.” Kelly Joe really liked Ornette Coleman because he had that kind of “countryish” style in his jazz melodies. He thought it was very real, earthbound music.

“Skip James was not as great as Williams, but still a big influence on my playing.”

“John Coltranewas a great saxophone player who never rested. There was always something going on, always something changing in his music. It was vital, and you felt he was really putting everything on the line.” Kelly Joe wondered what music would be like if everyone took this approach to playing and improvising. He hoped it was a trap he would one day fall into.

Jorma Kaukanen and I at his wonderful

Fur Peace Ranch in Southern Ohio

Jorma Kaukonen is one of the most influential guitarists in the world. He has provided and instructed his acoustic finger style guitar approach to thousands of guitarists. Kelly Joe became drawn to Jorma’s music at some of the gigs they played together. Kelly even picked up one of Jorma’s tunes called I Am The Light of The World. Jorma is a creative genius and an unmatched guitar picker. I personally found him to be a very nice man who would take the time to talk with anyone at his Fur Peace Ranch in southern Ohio.

He has performed with countless famous musicians such as Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and Jimi Hendrix and formed one of the most famous of all folk-rock bands in 1965 called Jefferson Airplane. Additionally, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as a founding member of the band. Then, in the 70’s while still with the Airplane, Jorma and Jack Casady formed the band Hot Tuna that inspired a whole generation of acoustic finger-style guitarists.

Jazz

Music was something that came naturally to Kelly. So, it has always been intriguing for him to find new challenges. This is why he got into jazz…it presented the biggest challenge. So, he played nothing but jazz for at least ten (10) years. When he moved from Seattle to Portland, Be-Bop was the music being played. He jumped into this style feet first and became totally immersed in Jazz and the fretless bass. He also played piano, bass, drums, and horns (saxophone). He took up bass because there wasn’t much work for jazz guitar players. He was more interested in playing jazz than worrying about learning guitar. So he played bass during this time only to play guitar a few times when he could hook up with friends to play bluegrass or folk music. He played a few of these gigs, but he didn’t really go back to the guitar until he reached his last twenty’s.

Kelly Joe began playing jazz in 1980, not so much as a guitar player, but more so as a bass player. He thought jazz guitar players weren’t “behind it.” The more Kelly got into the freer side of jazz (playing the fretless bass), the less he was attached to the more “straight-ahead stuff.” Once he understood this freedom, he was able to borrow from lots of different influences. What he found was that he wanted to play in an improvised manner, but with a more folk kind of music.

Country Blues and Lap Guitar

Sometime in 1989, at around the age of 30, Kelly started his music career over with an entirely new direction. He set his jazz bass playing aside and became consumed with the sound of country-blues. He converted from the fretless bass to the fretless lap guitar and combined it with a folk-based, country-blues, free improvisional playing style.

At the time, he was thinking about playing solo guitar, but he couldn’t find an anchor for it. This all changed when he heard Fred McDowell’s album Long Way From Home. He realized then he had his needed anchor, a style of music he could relate to and use his experiences and talents to evolve into something totally new and exciting.