There are two prominent Sam Phillipses in popular music. This list isn’t about the Sun Records producer who worked with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rather it’s about the idiosyncratic female singer-songwriter who launched her career in Christian music as Leslie Phillips in the 1980s.
This list doesn’t cover Phillips’ early work as a CCM artist. Instead, it starts with her fourth album, The Turning, where she worked with producer T Bone Burnett. Burnett had recently worked on Elvis Costello’s King of America, and would become one of the most acclaimed producers of his era with records like the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?
After The Turning, Phillips married Burnett and rebranded herself as Sam Phillips, a childhood nickname. Despite sharing a name with Elvis’ producer, her music often recalls The Beatles. Her songs are succinct, punchy, melodic, and distinctive. These songs come from four different decades. Phillips continued to thrive after splitting from Burnett, taking over production duties herself. She’s also dabbled in acting – she appeared as a mute terrorist in Die Hard With A Vengeance.
10 Best Sam Phillips Songs
#10 When I’m Alone
from Push Any Button, 2013
Phillips’ music often feels Beatles-inspired. ‘When I’m Alone recalls the innocence of the pre-psychedelic Beatles or even Buddy Holly.
The strings and little rockabilly guitar solo are straight from the early 1960s. Phillips conceived Push Any Button as a collection of imaginary AM radio songs she might have listened to as a child.
#9 Reflecting Light
from A Boot and A Shoe, 2004
Burnett and Phillips’ personal relationship deteriorated during the recording of A Boot and A Shoe. Although Burnett produces and plays bass, in hindsight, the album plays like a chronicle of their divorce.
Despite the circumstance, this waltz-time torch song is lovely. It was later used in Gilmore Girls, a TV show that Phillips contributed other music to.
#8 Power World
from Omnipop (It’s Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop), 1996
Omnipop is the odd duck in Phillips’ catalogue – she later described it to Salon as “throbbing with pain”. It only sold about a quarter of the number of copies of Martinis & Bikinis.
Omnipop is often tough to listen to but ‘Power World’ is excellent. It carries through on a psychedelic rush. Kudos for the unusual chorus – Phillips simply repeats the line “our ideas of perfect are so imperfect”.
#7 I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye To You
from The Indescribable Wow, 1988
While most of Phillips’ music sounds rootsy or retro, The Indescribable Wow is firmly tied to its era.
It’s a 1980s pop album, the most joyous release from the sometimes guarded Phillips. It was her first release on a secular label.
I wanted to learn how to write songs and make music better than I had before, and I realized that a lot of the fundamentalist people didn’t care about that, or were judgmental about that. It seemed that they had a very utilitarian view of art. That art was only to serve one purpose, which was to get across their point of view, and I didn’t agree.
Sam Phillips, 2011 interview
#6 Lying
from Cruel Inventions, 1990
The Indescribable Wow was an excellent album full of great tunes, but Cruel Inventions is closer to what you’d expect from a T Bone Burnett production. There’s a tough guitar riff and a chunky bass line.
Phillips later reworked ‘Lying’ for her Long Play project. She told PopMatters, “I was never really happy with my performance of it on Cruel Inventions, I thought my vocal was too strident. I wanted a softer approach, vocally, so I thought a stripped-down version would be interesting, and I was really happy with how it turned out. I do like the production of the old one, but I like my performance more on the new version.”
#5 I Need Love
from Martinis & Bikinis, 1994
Phillips displays her Beatles influence most clearly on Martinis & Bikinis. A cover of John Lennon’s ‘Gimme Some Truth’ closes the record, while XTC’s Colin Moulding adds McCartney-inspired basslines to the tracks he plays on.
“I left my conscience like a crying child/Locked the door behind me” is a terrific opening line. “I need love/not the political Church” digs at her CCM career.
#4 River of Love
from The Turning, 1987
The Turning was released under the name Leslie Phillips, but later re-released under her new name. Either way, it documents her break from Christian pop toward more honest songwriting as she started working with T Bone Burnett.
‘River of Love’ was written by Burnett. He already released it on his 1986 self-titled album. Placed first on The Turning, it represents a break from her earlier sound. Instead of soft Christian pop, she works with roots-oriented musicians like Jerry Scheff.
#3 How to Dream
from Fan Dance, 2001
The harsh, experimental Omnipop seemed like a dead-end for Phillips. So she reinvented herself for the 21st century with the pretty acoustic folk of Fan Dance.
The prettiest song is ‘How To Dream’. Phillips often uses the pinch and rasp in her voice for effect, but here it’s is pure and beautiful.
A woman said to me recently that she loved Fan Dance because it played like a movie in her head, there were so many images. I love that. That is exactly what I wanted. I’d rather take somebody into a world, so that when the music’s over, they don’t know exactly where they have been, but they know they were transported. Even though that’s a small thing, a brief thing, something you can’t explain, in the end it helps us change and grow, helps us love, and inspires us to move forward.
Sam Phillips, A Conversation with Sam Phillips
#2 Same Rain
from Martinis & Bikinis, 1994
While Phillips left the CCM industry, she didn’t abandon her faith when she stopped recording as Leslie Phillips. “Same Rain’ is drawn from the gospel of Matthew – “He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”
On her early work as Sam Phillips, she often stacks layers of intricate backing vocals. Here they kick in before any other instrument, creating an unsettling psychedelic effect.
#1 Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
from Don’t Do Anything, 2008
Before Phillips released her own version of ‘Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us’, it appeared on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ duet album Raising Sand. Burnett produced the record, and remaining a fan of his ex-wife’s work, he recommended the song to the duo.
While Plant and Krauss won plaudits for their album, I prefer the mystery of Phillips’ version. Sister Rosetta Thorpe was an early adopter of the electric guitar, known as the “grandmother of rock and roll”.
Note that my favourite Phillips song isn’t currently available on Spotify – I’ve instead included the cover by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
Any favourite Phillips songs I neglected? ‘Cameras in the Sky’ and ‘Where The Colors Don’t Go’ were two late cuts.
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I must admit…I thought I was going to be reading about Elvis, Jerry Lee, etc.
I have heard of her through blogs.
Before I read the article I listened to the songs…When I’m Alone is the one that I liked a lot and then I read what you wrote and it made sense. I also liked I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye To You a lot.
I like her voice…it reminded me a little of Maria McKee
I think my blog isn’t showing up in the reader feed at the moment.
I really enjoyed listening through her catalogue recently – lots of good records.
Her voice hooked me becasue it’s different.
My posts have done that a few times…what I’ve done to make it show is…copy the post…delete the original one and put a space in the title of the new one and publish it. It shows up after that.
I think it’s more of an issue that my wordpress.com subscription lapsed. I just renewed it but might need some help from their tech department – I did last time.