The Steel Guitar Forum

JACK PHILLIPS

This will be the story of an incredible teenage phenom named Jack Phillips
and his unbelievable musical journey by way of fiddle and steel guitar.
Until last years OSGA convention held in June 2021, I personally had
never heard this fantastic young man, Jack Phillips. Boy was I in for a
surprise. I absolutely was blown away and could hardly believe what I
was experiencing. I intentionally saved this story for the last . Most
of us save the dessert 'til the end...he's the cherry on the cake.

Born in east Texas in 2005 to supportive and dedicated parents who
came to realize the awesomeness of talent resident in this young man,
they fostered his love of music which they recognized early on. At age
3 he began to play fiddle. Let me stop here and tell you that I heard
Roy Clark say that the fiddle ate his lunch like nothing else could.
His folks arranged for a local violin/fiddle instructor who taught
the Suzuki method and what seemed difficult for some just came natural
to Jack.

Around age 13 or 14 he developed an interest in Pedal Steel, and once
again he had the support of his parents. At some point, enter Bobby
Flores , perhaps the most complete, well rounded, musician of them
all. His fiddle playing is impeccable, his guitar work {classical,
acoustic, electric}, pedal steel playing and perfect pitch vocals,
set him apart from the rest of us. My music room walls contain many
pictures of Bobby. Bobby could sure use your prayers at this time
as he battles cancer...I'm asking you to take the time to send one
up on his behalf.

Bobby hired Jack to play pedal steel in Yellow Rose band which is
a dream job....however when Bobby has an off night, Jack can be seen
with any number of Texas acts, appearing often at places like Little
Red's Longhorn Saloon located in the stockyards area of Ft Worth.
Just this past week found him to be busy at the Snyder Tx Western
Swing festival, performing with Kelly Spinks, Landon Dodd, Rance
Norton and a bunch of others.....must have been exhausting for a
young man of 17. Jack has been part of Bobby Flores Summer Camp
for at least two years. His instructors on steel were Jody Cameron
and Jim Loesburg.

Since there is so much material to cover, I probably should close
this out as PART ONE Now don't touch that remote, we'll be
right back with another chapter.

I was blown away as well on how well Jack plays steel and fiddle. Plain and simple, he just a natural musician and plays steel like someone playing 30 years. Great playing and his tone is incredible. Oh yeah, he is also a kind young man which speaks very highly of him. Jacks parents are extremely proud of him and justly so.

Larry King wrote:

Jack Phillips....PART 2

Every once in a while someone comes along that's just plain exceptional
and such is the case with Jack. It's always exciting to have young guys
interested in steel....it's like a transfusion of new blood that brings
life. When we consider all of our heroes who've passed {Rugg, Wallace ,
Day, Newman, Myrick, Mooney, Brumley, Isaacs, Rhodes, Morrell, Hughey,
Hogue, Reinhart, Remington, Emmons, Dodd, Tharpe, Sasser, Helms, Elliott
Overbey, } one has to think of the Jones song Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes.
Some of the young guns are Austin Stewart, Tobin Hess. Dylan Murch,Jacob
King and ???? one realizes the contribution to the future of steel guitar
of guys like Jack Phillips.

MAJOR RABBIT TRAIL

I've already mentioned my buddy Steve Matlock. In 2005 we drove down to Bandera Tx
for a Bandera Cowboy Days celebration. There was Shuffle Heaven, starting
out with Billy Mata and steel man Roger Edgington, Leon Rausch with Tommy
Morrell, Darrell McCall with Rick Price, Jake Hooker with Dickey Overbey,
and Bobby Flores with Randy Reinhart.

Remember now, the year was 2005 and we are now in 2022, and if you subtract
the two, the difference is 17 years. We saw Randy Reinhart and Dickey Overbey
in Bandera 17 years ago and when I asked who his influences were, he named
Randy and Dickey as well as Buddy. What's my point ??? While we were enjoying
2 of Jack's influences on the Bandera trip, the birds and the bees were
busy in Sulphur Springs....exactly 17 yrs. Now, you statisticians tell me,
what are the mathematical chances of that happening. Before you gasp, let
me assure you that I got permission from Allison before I went public.


JACK PHILLIPS PART THRE

Well, it's time to wrap this up . Bobby Flores at The Caberet
and Jake hooker at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar, one had Randy
and one had Dickey {Jack's 2 influences} and Allison had Jack.
It's been so long ago, mainly due to my hunt and peck method
of typing, that I don't remember if I told you about his guitars.
He has a '78 push pull and a '65 {his current favorite{ wrap
around . I did see he and Tyler Hall at Darren Shifflet's
Emmons room in March at Texas, demo-ing the new Emmons and
blowing the doors off.....mind boggling !!!!!!!!!

Jack will be with us at our OSGA Annual Convention on June
24 & 25 at Saint James Presbyterian churches Fellowship Hall
located on So. Elm, Jenks Ok. He'll be a featured guest on
steel but you can also expect to hear his Fiddle. Be there
or be square. Let's all make an effort to support the OSGA
and continue to build our crowds as we administer CPR to
a struggling steel guitar industry

T T T

Young Jack Phillips has a Great future in the Music World. Like everyone else who heard him last year for the first time, I was very impressed with His playing. Very nice young man too. I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing him play again.

Addendum and Corrections to Jack Phillips story

I just got off the phone with Allison , Jack's mother , and I have to make some
corrections . I had said that he started on fiddle at age 3 , when actually
he was 8 . His first teacher was interested in Classical and Orchestral music.
Jack quickly became disenchanted with that, and almost immediately began to be
tutored by Hank Singer and Bobby Flores, two of the absolute greatest one
could ever learn from.

Regarding Steel Guitar...Allison tells me that Jack expressed an interest in
learning steel at age 13 which would make him roughly 18 and by Dec '20,
Bobby hired him to play steel in Bobby's Yellow Rose of Texas band. His
teacher was Bobby for the most part and additional help from Jody Cameron
and Jim Loesburg .

Also I said that Jack had a '65 wrap around....in actuality he has 2 and
several 6 string guitars as well as too many amps . Need an Amp ? Go see
Jack. Mark and Allison are devoted parents and supportive of all his
playing opportunities in spite of feeling the pain at the pump /

That's it......if my Macular didn't get in the way . 'Til next time

My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing Jack perform with the Yellow Rose band yesterday at the Legends of Western Swing Music Festival in Ft. Worth. We were blown away by his talent - pedal steel, fiddle, vocals. He was playing a '65 wraparound and is equally adept on both E9 and C6. He and RJ Smith also backed up Justin Trevino (with the awesome Jim Loessberg in the steel chair) on fiddle. When Jim would take a steel solo, Jack would watch him intently, literally soaking up everything he played, then immediately pull off some tasteful 16-bay bluesy solo on fiddle, perfectly in tune. He's an amazing talent!