March of the Clouds are:
- The Phil Keaggy Email Discussion Group;
- "Neal's Notes,"
remarks and reminiscences of Neal Williams, a long-time friend of
Phil's and executive producer of Glass Harp drummer John Sferra's
new recording;
- A searchable discography of Phil's publicly released solo efforts
- Sources for hard-to-get Keaggy merchandise
...and lots more that you won't find here at Way Back Home.
Be sure to drop by!
Subtitled "Frequently Asked Questions about Phil and his Music,"
this is a "webified" version of Peter Thompson's amazing 40 page FAQ on Phil and
his music that Peter has posted regularly to
rec.music.christian
.
If you're new to Phil's music,
you should know that before going solo
in 1973, Phil was part of a trio called Glass Harp, with
drummer John Sferra (who is prominent on Phil's recent recording,
Crimson and Blue) and bassist Dan Pecchio. In four
years, Glass Harp recorded three albums on the Decca label and were
creating quite a stir far outside of their home base of Ohio as
openers for such bands as Yes and Traffic. There have been occassional
Glass Harp reunions, selling out Cleveland's Civic Theater decades
after the band's breakup. You can learn more at
The Glass Harp Web Page
hosted by Torrey Nelson, and at the
Glass Harp
Multimedia Scrapbook (including images and soundbites), maintained
by John Sferra himself. There is also an official
Glass Harp Listening Center
sponsored by OPM Merchandising, an Ohio-based company that distributes reissues
of Glass Harp CDs and apparel, and the new Live at Carnegie Hall CD.
John has been a friend of Phil's for about 30 years or more, and
founded Glass Harp with him in 1969. This is his home page, where
you can find out about his new album, North Bound.
Phil contributes guitars and vocals to this recording.
Phil M. was a member of the Phil Keaggy Band (whose only recording
was Emerging), having hooked up with Phil K. while both
were members of the Love Inn community in upstate New York in the
early 70s. Both Phils have remained continual friends and collaborators
since, and Phil M's legendary Hammond B3 organ playing has graced
many a CCM recording by Phil K. and others including Amy Grant
and Rich Mullins. Phil M. plays more than
just the B3, though; he's a multi-instrumentalist, as his own
solo recording Off Kilter bears witness to.
Check out his home page for more info.
Phil and his family have been longtime sponsors of children through
Compassion Internation, a Christian child sponsorship agency.
For the official word on the ministry of Compassion International,
you can reach them on the web, by email, by phone, FAX, or surface
mail as follows:
Compassion International
P.O. Box 7000
Colorado Springs, CO 80933
Continental US: (800) 336-7676
Off-Continent: (719) 594-9900
FAX: (719) 594-6189
Email: ciinfo@us.ci.org
If you are in Canada or the UK, visit their Partnering Country
offices,
Compassion Canada
and Tear Fund - United Kingdom.
For many years Compassion has enlisted the help of a variety of
contemporary Christian musicians. You can read about this aspect of
their ministry at their Music Program
page.
Some of these Keaggy fans have included photos or
other Keaggy Kontent at their sites.
- Chris Myers
- Chris, a subscriber to the keaggy-l list server, maintains
this site which hosts some great Keaggy photos, including a particularly
nice set of black-and-whites from the Keaggy/King/Dente tour in
early 1998. He also offers links to other Keaggy sites, and a
discography of recordings in his personal collection.
- Bob Wingate
- Bob, a subscriber to the keaggy-l list server, has an
attractive home page including a page on
Phil Keaggy/The Master's Musician that features links to other Keaggy sites, and
some soundbites from recent Keaggy albums.
- Caspar McCloud
- Caspar, an artist and musician, hosts this site which contains
photos of Phil with
Caspar and a
watercolor portrait of Phil (well, it's not watercolor online!).
- Doug Ingram
- Australian Keaggy fan Doug Ingram has a great page of photos
of one of Phil's rare Australian concerts, back in 1988.
- Daniel Ille's Homepage includes a link to Daniel's Keaggy Page that features links to his Keaggy artwork.
Classical Composers
Were you given the chance to ask Phil about his musical influences
and who he's been listening to lately, you might expect to hear about
the Beatles, the great blues-rock players of the 60s and 70s, or about other
contemporary guitarists. But Phil's first response is often a reference
to the music of turn-of-the-century classical composers. Among his
favorites are the following (images courtesy the
Picture Gallery of 1000 Classical Composers):
- Edvard
Grieg (1843-1907)
![[Grieg picture]](images/griegedv.jpg)
References to the works of Grieg, widely considered the greatest
Norwegian classical composer, appear in Phil's music at least as far
back as the early 70s (you can hear him steal some lines from Greig's
masterwork, "Peer Gynt," in a solo on his live album with
Second Chapter of Acts, How The West Was One). On Phil's
recent acoustic album, Beyond Nature, you'll find his
arrangement of Grieg's "Symphonic Dances," arranged by Phil for five
guitars (overdubbed!). You can find out more about Grieg at these
web sites:
- Claude-Achille
Debussy (1862-1918)
![[Debussy picture]](images/debussy2.jpg)
French composer Claude Debussy is probably the personality most closely
associated with the term "impressionism" in classical music. You've
almost certainly heard his best-known works,
"Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" (for orchestra) and "Claire de Lune"
("Light of the Moon", for piano). Phil
has noted that "Claire de Lune"
partly inspired his acoustic instrumental, "Fare Thee Well," which appears
on Beyond Nature (the intro and coda are very reminiscent
of "Claire de Lune"). The other influence for this tune was the Beatles'
"Yellow Submarine"---you can sing "We all live in a yellow submarine"
over the chorus! Talk about diverse influences....
You can learn more about Debussy at these web sites:
- Ralph
Vaughan-Williams (1872-1958)
![[VW picture]](images/vaughanw.jpg)
Ralph (pronounced "Rafe") Vaughan-Williams is widely
considered the greatest of the British romantic composers.
His best-known works are probably "The Lark Ascending" and "Fantasia
on a Theme of Thomas Tallis." He composed a piece titled
"Dives and Lazarus" based on the melody of an English folk song; this
same melody is the basis of several popular hymns, including "I Feel
The Wind Of God Today." It is under this title that Phil's treatement
of the melody--inspired directly by Vaughan-Williams'--appears on
Beyond Nature. Phil recently arranged a movement of
a lesser-known work of Vaughan-Willimas--a quintet--as an electric
guitar instrumental titled "Ralph's Peace."
He has been performing it live on acoustic, and it will appear on his
next instrumental album, 220, to be released by Sparrow
Records in August 1996.
You can learn more about Vaughan-Williams
at these web sites:
Contemporary Musicians
Among Phil's many contemporary influences are the following:
- Bruce Cockburn
Phil is a huge fan of Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian contemporary
singer/songwriter whose best-known song in the USA is probably his
top-40 hit of the 70s, "Wondering Where The Lions Are." Phil is
particularly fond of Cockburn's earliest work, and composed the
music to "It Could've Been Me" (on Way Back
Home) with Cockburn's style in mind. You'll find
more about Bruce at the
Bruce
Cockburn Web Page, which includes a page listing several other
Cockburn web resources including Gavin's Woodpile, an online
Cockburn newsletter.
- Martin Simpson
Martin and Phil were
cover artists on consecutive issues of
Fingerstyle Guitar magazine during its premier year
(issues 3 and 4 of 1994). Martin first gained recognition for his
awesome acoustic guitar chops in his home country of England where
he appeared solo and as accompanist for several well-known British
folksingers, most notably June Tabor. In the 90s, he and his
US-born wife and fellow musician, Jessica Ruby Simpson, moved to
upstate NY, and later to Santa Cruz, CA. At the same time, his
fame has spread widely. His recent releases include two collections
of Celtic and "Atlantic Rim" instrumentals on the Shanachie label
(Leaves Of Life and When I Was On Horseback),
a collection of instrumental arrangements of traditional gospel
songs (A Closer Walk With Thee), a collection of
contemporary folk songs recorded with Jessica (Red Roses),
and most recently a collection of original and traditional acoustic blues
songs (Smoke and Mirrors), the latter albums being
released by Thunderbird Records.
You can learn more about Martin at the
Martin
Simpson web page, hosted by
Thunderbird Records.
Phil has recently (fall of 1995) composed a song called "Legacy"
that is partly inspired by,
and intended as a tribute to, Simpson's music. It appears on his
Acoustic Sketches recording.
- Allan Holdsworth
Jazz/fusion legend
Allan Holdsworth has been a strong influence
on Phil's electric lead style and on his use of extended chords
and volume-swelled chords. Phil wrote the instrumental "Paid in Full" on
the Underground album as a tribute to Holdsworth. For
more about Holdsworth, visit
The Allan Holdsworth
WWW Home Page.
- Eric Johnson
Phil has noted in
interviews that he admires the electric playing
of Austin, Texas guitarist Eric Johnson, saying that Johnson's energy
and attention to vintage tones and styles
reminds him of some of the magic of Glass Harp. Johnson most often
performs live in a trio setting, just as Phil did in Glass Harp.
In his 1996 interview for Guitar Player magazine, Johnson
cites Phil's playing with Glass Harp as an important influence on his
legendary lead tone.
You can learn more about Johnson's music at
The Eric Johnson Home Page
or
The Eric Johnson Fan Page
or
The Unofficial Eric Johnson Site.
Phil has appeared on many albums by other musicians, contributing his
signature guitar work and occassionally vocals. An extensive list of
such collaborations appears in the
Preliminary Complete Discography.
Among these musical collaborators, the following have web pages:
Here are some other web sites that may be of interest to Keaggy fans:
Guitar Sites
- AG: Acoustic Guitarists' Annotated Guide to the Internet
- An annotated collection of links to hundreds of Internet resources
for acoustic guitar players, compiled by your friendly neighborhood
Way Back Home editor.
- Guitar Notes
by Jason Nieh
- A handy and extensive collection of Internet guitar-related links,
compiled by devoted Keaggy fan Jason Nieh.
- Contemporary
Christian Music Guitar Music Archive
- This archive, maintained by Mike Pilato, contains chords and tab
for songs from many contemporary Christian guitarists. It is temporarily
off-line as of early spring 97; but keep visiting for up-to-date info.
- CGTAR at AOL
- Allegedly a CCM tab site; but AOL sites crash my browser so I
can't verify this!
- Rockin' with the Cross
- Allegedly has CCM tab, but the server has been down so I cannot verify
this.
- James
A. Olson Guitars
- A web page describing and honoring the wonderful acoustic guitars
of James Olson, long-time friend and luthier of Phil's. Another site
maintained by your friendly neighborhood
Way Back Home editor.
- Langejans
Guitars
- A web site for Langejans custom acoustic guitars, Phil's recent
exclusive choice for live performance (they share time in the studio
with his Olson, too). Jason Nieh maintains this site.
- Delerium's Psychedelic Web
- A web site describing "psychedelic" bands in the US from 1963 to 1972,
including an entry for Glass Harp.
Contemporary Christian Music Sites
- CCM FAQ
- Rec.music.christian
Home Page
- Christian
Music Mailing List
- This site, hosted by Prodigy Services Company but open to all 'netizens,
lets you peruse archives of the Prodigy sponsored and moderated Christian
music mailing list, and subscribe or post messages yourself. Phil's
music has been a topic of discussion on this list.
- CCM Magazine
- The Lighthouse Electronic
Magazine
- A monthly online CCM magazine.
- The Lighthouse --- Online
CCM Magazine
- Christian Happenings
- An extension of Christian Happenings magazine, listing
concerts, conferences, talks, etc. chronologically and by region.
- White Flag
- An online distributor of CDs, videos, and more. "We call ourselves
'Whiite Flag' because our goal is to be totally 'surrendered' to Jesus."
- CCM Links
- CMO: Christian Music Online
- JR Music --- CCM
Resources
- webresources
- A list of all kinds of Christian web resources, including a selection
of music resources.
- 711.NET Christian Internet Assistance
- A searchable directory of online sites for and by Christians;
searches can be localized by US state.
- RadRockers
- Mail order purchasing of "rare" Christian music.
- CCMusic
- "A loosely organized group of people who have the common goal of
promoting Christian music through the World Wide Web." Their site
includes a large list of Christian artist sites.
- LIFE 106.3 WCTL Music
- A Christian radio station broadcasting from Erie, PA; their site
includes a collection of Christian music links.
Other Artists
These artists are among my own personal favorites, so I couldn't resist
taking the opportunity to mention them here. Since their music appeals
to this Keaggy fan, perhaps it will appeal to you, too.
Brooks Williams is a fine contemporary singer/songwriter whose
wonderful, blues-inspired songwriting and incredible acoustic guitar
playing has been influenced by Phil, Bruce Cockburn, Joseph Spence,
and others. He and Phil have performed on the same bill. In an interview in
Acoustic Guitar magazine, Brooks remarked that seeing one
of Phil's solo acoustic shows played an important role in motivating him
to make music his career. You can find out more about Brooks at
the Brooks Williams Home Page.
Bob Franke is another fine contemporary singer/songwriter whose
songwriting is renown, and whose writing is strongly influenced
by his Episcopalian spirituality. Although I don't believe he and
Phil are aware of each others' work, Bob has written a provocative
essay on songwriting as listening to
the Source that I feel deserves a wide audience, and that
articulates better than I ever could something that I appreciate a
great deal in Bob's and Phil's songwriting.
You can learn more about Bob Franke at Bob Franke's Home Page.
The Alta Vista web crawler has located a large number of sites that
mention Phil; here is a
Phil Keaggy query at Alta Vist. Many thanks to Jason Nieh for locating
this resource!
Back to Way Back Home...
Tom Loredo
/
loredo@spacenet.tn.cornell.edu
Ron had a page listing his collection
of Keaggy recordings well before Way Back
Home existed. It's since grown to a broader site, with various
Keaggy information and photos. Its title and choice of background image
(for those with browsers that view backgrounds) are inspired
by the song "March Of The Clouds," which opens
Phil's instrumental album, The Wind And The Wheat.
You'll find no better "portrait" of Phil on the 'net than the one
portrayed by the stories on Ron's "Phil's Friends on Phil" page; this
is a must-visit site for anyone curious about Phil the man or
Phil the musician.
Some other particularly noteworthy items
hosted at March of the Clouds are: