Sam Phillips, the spiritual waif with the "uncommercial" sound, has just released an airy and eerie new album called Martinis and Bikinis, and her label is firmly, squarely, even giddily behind it.
Virgin Records rented out Greenville Avenue's Not Just Jazz club on Monday, rolled out the ole open tab and even gave away a color TV set and a VCR to help attract about 150 music-business folks (DJs, distributors, record-store employees, journalists, Virgin's local reps, etc.) to the ethereal charms of Ms. Phillips, who sang for 15 minutes and signed autographs and posed for pictures for an hour and a half. Ms. Phillips has recorded three critically acclaimed albums for Virgin, and yet she's still best known as the wife of Fort Worth-raised producer/artist T-Bone Burnett.
But that should change, as Martinis and Bikinis announces the artistic elevation of a singer/songwriter who always made good records but never quite created the magical mood that this new 13-song set does. In a short interview after the meet-and- greet session, Ms. Phillips said she senses "a whole different feeling from the record company this time."
Ms. Phillips dedicated the new album to the late actor River Phoenix, who was a friend and a fan of her newer, edgier material.
"When we first played the rough mixes of the record for some of the Virgin staff, River and his girlfriend were there and he applauded and hooted after every song," Ms. Phillips said. "His encouragement meant so much to me, and it probably meant a lot to the company bigwigs. River was a fantastic person, just so soulful and intuitive, and his music was really wonderful. I miss him so much."
As Leslie Phillips, this avowed Christian began her career singing pop gospel, as sort of a new wave/new age Amy Grant. But she soon became disillusioned by the "propaganda and proselytizing" inherent in modern gospel music, and decided to try expressing her faith and devotion in a more lyrically vague style. "I don't like to try and teach with my music or load it up with all this meaning," she says. "I'm not very clever lyrically, not like T-Bone or Elvis Costello, but the way I write is to find words that interpret the melody."
Since blasting the gospel establishment with The Turning, her first LP produced by Mr. Burnett, Ms. Phillips has trafficked in secular spirituality, where the ideals are similar to those expressed in gospel, but the terrain is darker, rougher.
Sam Phillips is not an easy listen. Martinis and Bikinis is not instantly likable or engaging, and you probably won't hum the melodies on your way to work after the first few times you've played it. But an inner warmth is the reward for sticking with it.
Perseverance seems to be a common theme. "I've learned the secret to getting support from your label," she said. "You just stay with the same company for years and years, and eventually they'll all come around."