1. What's your favorite song on the "Girl on the Wire" CD?
SHELLY: “Lonely Ride” is the song that truly hit the mark for me. Like many songwriters, I write about some very personal, and sometimes painful, matters and hope that listeners will relate to it in their own way. “Lonely Ride” seemed to resonate with people in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Plus, it’s very soulful and the guys played it so beautifully. Ooh, and it has that infectious four part gospel-style harmony.
ROB: I think my favorite cut is the title cut, "Girl on the Wire". I always felt like it was one of those songs that the audience enjoyed and it's got a killer guitar solo. I know that for sure because I had to cut it 12 times before I could even play the damn thing.
2. Tell me about making "Girl on the Wire".
SHELLY: I waited a ridiculously long time to make this record. I had performed and recorded most of my life - tons of demos and appearances on other artist’s projects, but had unintentionally put off releasing my own CD. I’m a chronic procrastinator by nature, but after some life-changing events I stopped making excuses. There’s a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too." It served as a motivator for me and actually inspired the first song on the CD, “Providence Moves Too“. We recorded at PDM Studio in Oklahoma City with the awesome engineer, Ernie Tullis.
ROB: It was a real learning experience for me. While I had produced a full length record before (and gratefully with the same wonderful engineer), "Girl on the Wire" had a lot of moods and instrumentation to cover to really flesh it out. We did the songs in roughly three batches, starting with rhythm section tracks and then building upward from there. Sometimes it was challenging to go from production guy to guitar guy and shut off the inner critic long enough to play without evaluation. I think I personally enjoyed cutting my background vocal contributions the most as Shelly is my favorite singer to backup.
3. How did the two of you start working with each other?
ROB: My recollection is that the rhythm section from the band at the time taught at the same lesson studio that I did. After I heard them live, I knew that I wanted a shot to play with Shelly if the slot ever came open. Eventually, it did and I was not shy about my enthusiasm for what Shelly and the group had going on.
SHELLY: Yeah, Rob and I knew of each other and had mutual musician friends. I had heard he was a very talented guitar player and writer. When I finally heard him, I was blown away. We soon realized we were kindred spirits with compatible musical visions. We’ve been attached at the hip ever since, both as friends and collaborators. His wife and dogs and cats and porcupines (yes, porcupines) are part of my extended family.
4. Talk about your co-writing process.
ROB: Well, Shelly comes over and gets me incredibly fucked up on wine and then enjoys watching me trying to remember clever guitar parts that I wrote only moments earlier. When I can't focus my eyes any longer, it's been my impression that we are done and Shelly usually goes home. Miraculously, I am usually able to study the tapes we record during these sessions to piece together some kind of coherent arrangement before we hit the studio. Musically, I try to contribute a) what makes the song better and b) what makes Shelly sound better, in that order.
SHELLY: Rob summed it up pretty accurately. Along with the wine, I usually start by contribute a lyrical idea and sometimes a direction for the melody. Rob grabs hold and it blossoms from there. Occasionally I work around a riff he’s been working on, but yeah, it typically begins, “Here’s a glass of wine . . . Hey, listen to this idea.” I’m very generous with the wine and Rob is equally generous with his collaborative ideas.
5. Who are your musical influences?
SHELLY: The soul artists from the 60’s and 70’s: Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield and Al Green. Bonnie Raitt had a huge impact on me in high school. I was equally impacted by the singer/songwriter types like Carol King, James Taylor, and Stevie Nicks. Oh, and jazz vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Billie Holliday. Crap, this is hard.
ROB: I could name a million different musicians who have inspired me but my primary influences can probably be narrowed safely to Frank Zappa, Jimmy Page, Snooks Eaglin, and Doc Watson. I try to borrow and blend influences from disparate enough sources (a Fela Kuti beat with a Bee Gees harmony) that no one source can be traced as the inspiration for it all.
6. How about songwriters?
ROB: I've got my favorites, certainly. Don Fagen and Walter Becker, Lyle Lovett, Cole Porter, Jeff Buckley among many others.
SHELLY: I love Leonard Cohen for his masterful poetry and I’ve always admired the aforementioned Carol King. She was always able to write a commercially successful song that still resonated personally with the singer. Jeff Buckley rips my heart out.
7. What inspires your music?
SHELLY: Self-expression is a pivotal need of mine. I’m inspired by the desire to be understood. I have to write about a personal experience or belief or a story that speaks to me in an emotional way. Expressing myself through songwriting and the physical act of singing is my therapy, while recording is about delivering the message. Live performance is all about connecting with people, both the musicians and the audience.
ROB: Music has always been for me about the epic struggle between harmony and dissonance. Without the dark, light has little meaning. For this reason, I try to create songs around chord progressions that reflect that balance between euphony and discord. I'd like to think that this approach helps to create music that sticks to ribs and gives the careful listeners out there something to think about.
8. Tell us about your musical history?
ROB: I grew up playing the guitar, the piano, and singing in church and school choirs. I took guitar lessons for a total of about a year and a half though not contiguously. I played baritone for the high school band for a year and used that time to teach myself to read and write music. I've played in a number of bands since beginning my career as a guitarist playing every kind of music from metal to No Depression- style red-dirt country. I played bass professionally for a number of years as well and almost always insist on singing some kind of something if only because I like singing so much.
SHELLY: Like I mentioned earlier, I grew up singing and started songwriting when I was just a kid. Through junior high and high school, my best friend and I performed on the country music showcase circuit. The following decade I was in several Country, Rock, and Top 40 bands as well as a wonderful Latin Jazz band called “Salsa Nueva”. I formed “Shelly Phelps and the Rhythm Junkies” and we performed for about 7 years, but eventually disbanded. Rob and I continued to work together as “The Shelly Phelps Band” and are currently in the process of breaking in a new rhythm section.
9. What first inspired you to play music?
SHELLY: Music has been a part of my life since birth. It never really occurred to me that I would do anything else. When I was a kid, I would wake up to my Mom singing or playing Southern Gospel albums while she was cooking breakfast. Very early on I found Motown, Soul, Rock, Jazz, and Blues, much to the chagrin of my parents. I sang at church and in school plays, but the real turning point was when a local band let me sing with them when I was about 5 years old. I was officially hooked.
ROB: Both of my parents are musical in their own way and music played a big role in our family in terms of personal entertainment. Musicians like Rick Derringer and Johnny Winter were often discussed around the house like they were people we knew. I've been very lucky to grow up in places where music was being played by people who were well respected and I guess that desire to emulate them shaped my interests to some extent.
10. Rob, tell us about BLUESMAN.
ROB: In addition to being a musician, I have a secret identity as a writer of and about comics. My current graphic novel in progress is called BLUESMAN. The story is set in the late 1920s and follows a blues guitar player named Lem Taylor across the state of Arkansas as he tries to escape punishment for a crime he didn't commit. While focusing a lot on the blues and the people who played it, it is also a story about faith and the price for abandoning it. Interested parties can find out more about BLUESMAN and my other comics-related work at
www.bluesmanproject.com.
11. Shelly, tell us about the Oklahoma Songwriters Cirlce.
SHELLY: I’ve been hosting the Songwriters Circle at Full Circle Book Store in Oklahoma City every 3rd Wednesday of each month since June, 2004. My vision for the group was that it offer opportunities for networking, collaborating, song feedback, and camaraderie. There are several core members, but we knew we didn’t want it to turn into a “cliquish” situation - we welcome songwriters of all ages, genres, and experience levels. I always leave inspired. Anyone who is interested can learn more at
http://www.myspace.com/oklahomasongwriterscircle.
12. Any other creative outlets?
ROB: It's all I can do to fulfill the outlets I already have open! When not writing, playing, producing, or teaching music or writing or writing about comics, I'm either asleep or taking a bath.
SHELLY: Unlike Rob, I find sleeping and bathing rather creative experiences. I do love to draw and paint and can get completely lost for hours in graphic and web design. I enjoy acting and wish I had more time to do some plays. I also find helping new artists develop their talents and skills very rewarding.
13. Where is home?
ROB: While I've lived in the great state of Oklahoma for most of my life, I still consider Springfield, Missouri (Queen City of the Ozarks) my home town. I'm of hillbilly stock and its best that we all bear that in mind unto perpetuity.
SHELLY: I currently live in Oklahoma City, but the tiny town of Byars, Oklahoma is where I lived the first 17 years of my life, so yeah that’s home. And if Rob is embracing his hillbilly nature, then it’s only fair that I boldly claim by status as a “hick”. You can take the girl out of the country, but . . .
14. Who wrote the book of love?
SHELLY: This guy named Phil. He lives in Ohio with his parents and eats Beenie Weenies every night for dinner. It’s true. He asked me out once.
ROB: A masochist, obviously.
15. What's in your iPod right now?
ROB: About 1600 songs! There's no quick description that will give a truly representative sample but the top twenty five played songs right now include songs by Franz Ferdinand, The Smiths, Three Dog Night, Jeff Buckley, Ray Charles, a Japanese band called Aiha Higurashi, Lightnin' Hopkins, Otis Redding, the Bee Gees, Hall and Oates, The Outfield, Pearl Jam, Cake, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Queen, the soundtrack to a Japanese anime called TEXHNOLYZE and Shelly Phelps!
SHELLY: I just got my iPOD, so about 1550 fewer than Rob. Right now, it’s Quincy Jones, Dusty Springfield, Leonard Cohen, The Temptations, Nina Simone, Cyndi Lauper, Herbie Hancock, KT Tunstall (a funky and refreshing newcomer) and an NPR Fresh Air Interview with Stephen Colbert.
16. What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you on stage?
SHELLY: A former band of mine had a gig at a large venue with an elaborate stage. The band warmed up with an instrumental while I went out front to check the sound. As I returned backstage, I found it pitch black due to a burned out light bulb. I tripped, fell down a short flight of stairs and all but knocked myself out. It took me awhile to get my breath and stand up. Eventually I limped back on stage, knees and elbows bloody, hair askew, and my shirt ripped as the guys looked at me in horror. The show must go on, right?
ROB: Probably the time that I broke a string at that Rhythm Section party at the Will Rogers Theater and Shelly and Steve had to play a bass/vocal duet of BLUE BAYOU while another barely tuneable guitar was produced from somewhere backstage. I can only thank god we were close to the end of the set.
17. What would most people find surprising about you?
ROB: That I was born a Coal Miner's Daughter. I got better.
SHELLY: I can’t swim. I know. Just shut up.
18. Any guilty pleasures?
SHELLY: HGTV, Starbucks, and chocolate covered almonds. I offer no explanation or apology.
ROB: I prefer all my pleasure guilty.
19. What's your basic philosophy of life in 10 words or less?
SHELLY: Through authenticity, tolerance, forgiveness, honesty, and kindness, happiness is automatic.
ROB: Nightmare or bliss, we dream it before we live it.
20. You've begun recording a new CD. What's it going to be like?
ROB: I'm envisioning this album as a distillation of the finest moments on "Girl on the Wire". Dirty, punchy, soulful, and always aimed at getting the listener to move, even if just on the inside.
SHELLY: We’re going to play to our strengths on this one. “Girl on the Wire” was all about exploring our versatile influences, yet the “soul factor” kept surfacing. So we will focus on the raw, gritty, and sometimes haunting, soulful bluesy rock that is our truest nature.