GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS : LIGHTNING, SHOW US YOUR STUFF

GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS : LIGHTNING, SHOW US YOUR STUFF

Ain't Done Yet
Drawing The Head
Lowest Low
Leave A Light On
Mourning Dove
Sometimes You Wake Up In Charleston
Gather Up
Straight To The Ground
Coming To
Walking In My Sleep

Label : Yep Roc Records

Release Date : August 24, 2020

Length : 37:37

Review (AllMusic) : 2018's Widdershins presented a Grant-Lee Phillips who was willing to mount a soapbox and speak his mind about life in Trump-era America. Two years later, on 2020's Lightning Show Us Your Stuff, Phillips is feeling a bit quieter and more introspective, still a man of principles but less inclined to speak so loudly about them. This music isn't the work of someone who has resigned himself to unfortunate changes in America; instead, he takes his time training a keen eye on the world around him, and has plenty to say about the larger issues of a culture in chaos as well as the stuff that complicates the heart and soul of nearly all of us. The loneliness of "Leave a Light On" and the frustrations of a life going nowhere in "Straight to the Ground" rest comfortably besides the troubled ruminations of "Sometimes You Wake Up in Charleston" and the casual, sincere defiance of "Ain't Done Yet," and he confronts them all with honesty and purpose. As a songwriter, Phillips has always been eloquent but never a sloganeer, and that's certainly the case with Lightning Show Us Your Stuff; his messages are smart while leaving some interpretive wiggle room, though his vocals tell the tale as well as the songs themselves, and in this case, that works just fine. Phillips's singing has long been one of his greatest assets, and the smooth, soulful tone of his instrument is in excellent shape, a perfect vehicle for the quiet determination of the music. He's assembled a superb band for these sessions: bassist Jennifer Condos and drummer Jay Bellerose build a subtle yet unshakable foundation for the songs, and Eric Heywood's pedal steel guitar and Danny T. Levin's brass add lots of effective detail to the arrangements. Lightning Show Us Your Stuff doesn't feel like one of the truly great albums in Grant-Lee Phillips's catalog, but it's certainly a very good one, and any artist who can reliably turn out music this smart, impassioned, and well-crafted is someone who more than deserves a larger audience.

Review (Americana UK) : Grant Lee Phillips has been a critic's favourite ever since the days of Grant Lee Buffalo in the '90s, and is known for his sweet and soulful vocals and excellent songwriting. However, this acclaim has not translated into significant commercial success. With 'Lightning Show Us Your Stuff', his tenth album, this may be about to change. While the album fits seamlessly into Grant Lee Phillips' discography, the quality of the album and songwriting is just that little bit better, just a touch more relaxed and with just enough subtlety to make this probably his best album. Grant Lee Phillips, who is of Indian descent, got the idea for the title from "The words of my daughter, as she thrust a manzanita branch toward the night sky. Kids being kids, I figured..then I heard the thunderclap.". 'Lightning Show Us Your Stuff' was self-produced by Grant Lee Phillips in Los Angeles and features him on vocals, guitar, piano and organ. A key part of the album's success is down to the real band feel of the supporting musicians who include husband and wife rhythm section Jay Bellerose and Jennifer Condos, steel guitarist Eric Haywood and horn player Danny T. Levin. The album was recorded live in the studio and the subtlety of the musicians, who have played with nearly everyone in the music business from Wilco, Bruce Springsteen to Ray LaMontagne and The Jayhawks, give perfect support to an impressive collection of songs. Jay Bellerose's drum work is just a joy to hear and at times recalls the feel drumming of Levon Helm's work with The Band. The euphonium, trombone and cornet of Danny T Levin add wispish and varied textures to some songs. The album's length of thirty-eight minutes adds to the overall classic feel of the album with no filler tracks adding to the overall length. The collection of songs was written by Grant Lee Phillips to reflect on "..the quiet lives of people who are wrestling to hang on, trying to retain dignity, fighting back forces beyond their control," and Phillips added, "I'm not interested in pinning the songs down or reducing their mystery. I'm attempting to capture a sliver of time.". The album opens with 56-year-old Phillips defiantly saying 'I Ain't Done Yet' and proclaiming he has "more dreaming to do" punctuated by the horns. Acoustic and steel guitar are to the fore as Phillips shows his questioning nature on 'Drawing The Head'. 'Lowest Low' was the lead single from the album and is a beautiful and gentle song that allows Phillips' vocals to shine. The oldest song on the album, 'Morning Dove', manages to invoke the spirit of The Band as Phillips reminisces about his first experiences of Tennessee "One day I'm gonna lay my head/In the long cool shadow of the dogwood. Lay back and let the cotton clouds go by." One of the standout tracks on the album is 'Gather Up' which is a country blues with heavy gospel overtones. Phillips has said the inspiration for the song came from "When I was kid, I was forever being dragged off with my grandparents to some little country church. The folks were always friendly as the long cars pulled up into the gravel driveway. Everyone in their Sunday best - my grandpa in a suit, grandma in a flowered dress. Once in the pews, the mood would sometimes darken with the threat of some cataclysm. There was also music. A guttural kind of music that comes out of the mouth of an old man and an overdriven amplifier. Those things stuck with me." Phillips looks back at his small-town 19-year-old self in 'Straight To The Ground'. 'Lightning Show Us Your Stuff' is an excellent album with everything coming together to give an old style classic album experience. If you are a fan of Grant Lee Phillips you won't need any encouragement to listen to this, if you don't know his music then this is an excellent place to start. The quality of the songwriting, vocals and instrumental performances are all first class. Definitely a contender for inclusion in the best of 2020 lists at the end of the year.

Review (Bluestown Music) : De Amerikaanse singer-songwriter en multi-instrumentalist Grant-Lee Phillips wordt als Bryan G. Phillips, op 1 september 1963 geboren in Stockton, California. Op 19 jarige leeftijd verhuist hij naar Los Angeles. Eind jaren '80 formeert hij samen met Jeffrey Clark de rockband Shiva Burlesque. Deze band brengt twee albums uit. in 1991 krijgt Shiva Burlesque een andere bezetting en gaat verder onder de naam Grant Lee Buffalo en toert o.a. met R.E.M., Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins en The Cranberries. Hun debuutalbum 'Fuzzy' komt in 1993 uit en dat album wordt alom geprezen en door Michael Stipe van R.E.M. zelfs uitgeroepen tot album van het jaar. Na nog drie albums ontbindt Phillips de band in 1999 en start een solocarrière. Phillips woont nu in Nashville, Tennessee. Phillips tekent een contract bij Rounder Records en in 2000 komt zijn eerste soloalbum 'Ladies Love Oracle' uit. Onlangs verscheen zijn tiende soloalbum. Op dit album 'Lightning, show Us Your Stuff' staan tien nieuwe eigen composities. Naast Phillips (zang, gitaar, piano, orgel) zijn op dit album drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss), bassist Jennifer Condos (Ray LaMontagne, Bruce Springsteen, Sam Phillips), pedalsteel gitarist Eric Haywood (Son Volt, The Jayhawks) en hornplayer (euphonium, trombonium, coronet) Danny T. Levin (Iggy Pop, Regina Spektor) te horen. De blaasinstrumenten zijn in het openingsnummer Ain't Done Yet meteen zeer prominent aanwezig. Drawing the Head is een ballad met mooi pianospel. De eerste single van het album is Lowest Low, een song met verfijnde gitaarklanken, pedal steel en de ingetogen enigszins hese zang van Phillips. Leave a Light On is iets steviger en de zang is uitbundiger. Levin tovert ook hier weer heerlijke tonen uit zijn blaasinstrumenten. Fraaie pianoklanken openen daarna de ballad Mourning Dove en de zang is hier weer ingetogen en in Sometimes You Woke Up in Charleston hees en soms fluisterend. De stem van Phillips doet me trouwens af en toe denken aan Ray LaMontagne en Steve Forbert. Het gospelachtige Gather Up is weer steviger en de zang naast het fijne gitaarwerk uitbundig. Een van de hoogtepunten is Straight Up to the Ground met prachtig pianospel en een heerlijke pedalsteel. Deze schitterende ballad is het tweede nummer van het album dat op single is uitgebracht. Phillips laat naast zijn ingetogen zang ook weer fraai pianospel horen in Coming To en in het slotnummer Walking in My Sleep laat hij horen dat hij ook goed overweg kan met de akoestische gitaar. De pedal steel van Haywood is op dit slotnummer ook weer zeer prettig aanwezig. Conclusie: Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff is lekkere relaxte Americana.

Review (Lyric Magazine) : Grant-Lee Phillips has been making fantastic Americana music for three decades, leading the band Grant-Lee Buffalo before striking out as a solo act. In all of his projects, his gorgeous voice has stood at the center of the music. On Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff, an excellent band in Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant/Alison Krauss) on percussion, Jennifer Condos (Stevie Nicks) on bass, Eric Heywood on guitars and pedal steel, Danny Levin on horns provides the perfect atmosphere for Phillips' moving voice and lyrics. Bellerose, Condos, and Heywood regularly work together as a unit (The Band of Sweethearts); as a result, the music here feels tight and sharp. Like many a good Americana album, the band's ability to stay out of the singer-songwriter is just as important as what they do. I am continuously surprised at how many musicians, many of them well thought of, seem to lack a basic understanding of how to balance instruments with vocals, and, as a result, obscure the words. The musicians here understand that this is a Grant-Lee Phillips album, and they play to make that happen. Grant has always been an intelligent, sensitive lyricist, and he continues to grow his horizons here. "Straight to the Ground," an exercise in working in character, speaks to anyone who's ever felt the need to escape that little hometown. While many artists despair for the inability to write on the road, for Phillips, it is a vital, regular part of his process. "Sometimes You Wake Up In Charleston," written in that city, reflects on the fundamental tensions and tragedies of America that culminated in a white supremacist shooting several parishioners in a black Church. Impressively, Phillips wrote the excellent "Lowest Low" when he was sick on tour and trying to summon his powers for a performance. Fittingly, it precedes "Leave a Light On," which is about the joys of having a loved one to come home to. Moving, insightful, and gorgeous, Lightning Show Us Your Stuff is everything you'd expect from a Grant-Lee Phillips album, and will be loved by both new and devoted fans.