The Musical Concern
Grant-Lee Phillips
Little Moon
(October 6, 2009 – Yep Roc Records)

My online jukebox categorizes Grant-Lee Phillips as “Adult Contemporary.” And that’s uncool. See, back in the day – around the time the AC label was invented and offered up as a radio format – it represented the bland, tepid, throwaway music that your parents, who were indeed adults, might listen to if they thought they were hip.

As a new dj at the time, I was cue-burning vinyl copies of Olivia Newton-John and Billy Ocean while naively fighting for Tom Waits and Roxy Music adds. Naturally, I never won those fights. But I did begin to develop a healthy disdain for labeling things, especially music things.

No wonder I cringe at the sight of Grant-Lee Phillips standing beneath such a macabre banner. Better to call him “Americana.” And if that doesn’t fit, how about the old fallback/catchall, “Singer/Songwriter?”

Singer/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips has redefined adult contemporary music and made it okay for me to listen to. On his latest, Little Moon, Phillips is decidedly upbeat and digging the family scene. I mean, you gotta be in a good mood to open your album with “Good Morning Happiness,” while the unemployment rate plays footsy with 10%.

Anyway, Phillips’ “wife (and) little girl” are undoubtedly the muses at play in this set covering life’s wonders (“Violet”), hopes (“One Morning”), and the occasional nuclear threat (“It Ain’t The Same Old Cold War Harry”).

While the chord progressions are standard, there are plenty of well-placed strings, tubas and trombones, and a little ripsaw guitar here and there. Slightly muffled, yet curiously flabby, drums are a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, the record is long on lullabies, punctuated with John Phillip Souza stomp (I know!), and melodies that hang around for days.

Ultimately, Phillips’ vocals distinguish him. Stretching the crap out of a vowel, or running-on a lyric to fit a rhythm means there’s seldom a dull moment, even when the lines turn average. And when the lines stand out you get stuff like this:

I don’t feel sad when Cash wears black

I hear the train…coming

A good thing’s down the railroad track

You gotta believe in something

If that’s “Adult Contemporary,” then that’s cool.

JH