Grant-Lee Phillips
Widdershins

There are some artists in the American music scene in particular with whom you always hit the mark: you already know in fact that they will never, ever make an album that could turn out to be a flop. You know that, of course, you might not always be facing a masterpiece or a fundamental album, but at the same time, their skill in writing songs makes them close to what can be considered the true "classics" of USA music. Grant-Lee Phillips, born in Stockton, California in 1963, can be considered for his generation what have been the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard over the years... Clearly, each has their own style and clearly, Grant-Lee grew up in a completely different historical phase and has a different background, but it is undeniable that today he is one of the most representative singer-songwriters and musicians of this long tradition of American songwriting.

His ninth solo album is titled "Widdershins" and was released last February 23 via Yep Roc Records. It was recorded in just four days at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, with Jerry Roe on drums and Lex Price on bass. The songs were, of course, all written by Phillips himself and have a strongly social character and content. The idea as a whole is also interesting because the songs, which Grant-Lee wanted to bring closer to those at the beginning of his experience with Grant Lee Buffalo in terms of content, recognizing across his country that same social tension from the early nineties, actually tell a whole series of stories of characters described as scoundrels and charlatans, tyrants and seers, with references from Marie Antoinette looking down contemptuously at the angry proletariat in "Unruly Mobs" to the references to Mrs. Robinson in "Miss Betsy" (where it talks about child labor) and look at a certain symbolism typical of Bob Dylan's writing.

"Widdershins" is still substantially an electric music album; from this point, don't expect anything that might be vintage, outdated or lacking a certain captivating vibe and sounds that are rooted in the rock and roll tradition of the seventies perhaps revisited according to eighties experiences and the perspective of Steve Wynn or Bob Mould. But overall, it is perhaps in the "classics" like a certain Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, or Bob Seger, a musician who, echoing pages upon pages written by Lester Bangs on the subject, has always had that same "ethic" and style which is recognized today in Phillips, that by framing him, we recognize him as a timeless author and writer.