Since her debut album, The Indescribable Wow, was released to modest critical praise in 1988, Sam Phillips has worked diligently to improve her voice and songwriting.
Now - after the arrival of this year's Martinis and Bikinis - it's evident Phillips' formula is working. She plays tonight with her album-producer husband and guitarist, T-Bone Burnett, and others at the Boulder Theater.
"Martinis and Bikinis is just the kind of record, lyrically and musically, that I wanted to make," said Phillips recently from a Nashville hotel. "I think that came from being on the road for the last six months (doing shows) with just a guitar. The songs really have to work when you do that."
Phillips doesn't find songwriting an easy task, although, she said, "I write constantly, whether it's in a journal or writing poetry." It was a New York painter friend who shared his approach to art with Phillips that helped her overcome the difficulties of composing music.
"He threw a lot of paint on a huge piece of canvas. Then, after it was dry, he took it down, examined it and then he cropped it. He got it all out . . . that's a good thing I've learned," she said, adding that it was easier to get to the core of a song's intention after trimming away the peripheral material.
Martinis and Bikinis is Phillips' third recording. It is wry, observant and deftly penned, with catchy hooks and a more mature world view than Phillips' previous two efforts. It is evocative in its simplicity and directness.
On it, Phillips takes careful aim at American culture. She is as pleading and needy as anyone, but refuses to be hornswaggled by sappy sentimentality. I Need Love is a plea for just that. And unlike smarmy New Agers who whine to save the planet, Phillips prophetically sings in a mournful, soul-tortured voice that "we won't stop 'til we're underneath a black sky," in a song entitled Black Sky.
The remaining 11 songs are mostly written by Phillips, although she enlists the help of Burnett on Same Rain and Same Changes and includes a cover of John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth.
Phillips' voice has undergone changes since The Indescribably Wow and 1991 Cruel Inventions days. Like many other singer / songwriters, the songs got higher grades than their composers' vocals.
"I've learned a lot about singing in the past year. I'm singing from a deeper place now, from the soul rather than from my head, or even my body," she said. "I've never really been a singer, and I don't consider myself much of a singer, but I am interested in becoming a better singer."
The depth of Phillips' performance on Martinis and Bikinis is significant when compared to her earlier efforts. But don't expect her Boulder Theater show to recreate the album. "I like to do things differently live," she insisted. "Why go out to a show if you're going to hear the record? You can hear that at home."
Phillips has partnered musically with Burnett for their next project which will be "some country songs."
The project began during a period when Phillips' label, Virgin Records, was being sold and restructured - and the release of Martinis and Bikinis was delayed. She worked with Burnett on the songs that will be "somewhat traditional, with a little rockabilly." Burnett will produce the new CD (although Phillips admits that could change), and the project overall, will "harken back to the old country music," she says. Recently, Phillips has been touring with Counting Crows and will soon return to tour with the group for the summer.