Stacy Phillips (1944 to 2018) was a Dobro player and fiddler known for a chord-based style on the resonator guitar and for the instruction books many players learned from. He was a founding member of Breakfast Special in 1973 and played in Tasty Licks with a young Béla Fleck. He was one of the featured players on The Great Dobro Sessions, which won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 1995.
Why Phillips matters
Phillips is one of the main authors of Dobro instruction. Wikipedia notes the large volume of teaching material he produced for both the resonator guitar and the fiddle, including The Dobro Book. As a player he mixed bluegrass with jazz, swing, klezmer, and Hawaiian music.
Life and career
Phillips was born on September 29, 1944, and came from New York City. He changed his name when he began performing. In 1973 he co-founded Breakfast Special with Tony Trischka, Andy Statman, and Kenny Kosek. Later in the 1970s he played in Tasty Licks with Béla Fleck and Mark Schatz.
He wrote or co-wrote many instruction books, including Hot Licks for Bluegrass Fiddle (1984), The Dobro Book (1992), and Bluegrass Fiddle Styles with Kenny Kosek (1992). In 1994 he played on The Great Dobro Sessions. In 1998 he formed the Afro-Semitic Experience, a band that combined jazz with Jewish and African American musical traditions. In 2011 he started a traditional bluegrass band, Stacy Phillips and His Bluegrass Characters. He lived in New Haven, Connecticut, and died on June 5, 2018.
Playing style
Wikipedia describes his Dobro playing as unusual and chord-based. On The Great Dobro Sessions he played his own The Last Rose of Autumn and the old tune Ace of Spades. He was also a fiddler and wrote several fiddle method books.
Influences and legacy
Phillips played beside Tony Trischka, Andy Statman, Kenny Kosek, Béla Fleck, and Mark Schatz. He co-wrote a Cape Breton fiddle book with Natalie MacMaster.
Signature tunes and songs
The Last Rose of Autumn Ace of Spades.
Essential recordings
The Great Dobro Sessions (Sugar Hill, 1994)
Awards and honors
Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, The Great Dobro Sessions (1995)
Watch and listen
Phillips teaches the first lesson of his Homespun Dobro course.
What to learn from Phillips
Learn three chord shapes with the bar on a Dobro in open G tuning: the straight bar for the major chord, and two slants for minor and seventh chords. Then play a slow waltz using full chords instead of single notes. Phillips’s chord-based approach gives the Dobro a fuller voice when you play alone or back a singer.
Sources
Stacy Phillips, Wikipedia Phillips, Stacy, BluegrassBios.com The Great Dobro Sessions, Wikipedia Schatz, Mark, BluegrassBios.com
Related players
See the Dobro players hub and the Dobro guide. Mark Schatz was his Tasty Licks bandmate. Mike Auldridge and Sally Van Meter also played on The Great Dobro Sessions.