Podcasts Music Music Interviews The Fretboard Journal Guitar Podcast Podcast 126: Michael Corcoran on Washington Phillips

Podcast 126: Michael Corcoran on Washington Phillips

Published: Dec. 1, 2016, 9:46 p.m.

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On December 5, 1927, the day after Blind Willie Johnson recorded some of his most influential blues sides at an impromptu Columbia Records recording studio in Dallas, in walked an equally mysterious and haunting musician, Washington Phillips. Phillips carried a homebrew instrument - later described as a \\u201cdulceola\\u201d but, as we learn on today\\u2019s podcast, actually two zithers he fabricated together. The otherworldly music coming out of those zithers, combined with Phillips\\u2019 powerful singing and songwriting, created some of the most awe-inspiring and mysterious sounds ever recorded. It\\u2019s no wonder Phillips has been covered by Ry Cooder, Jorma Kaukonen, Will Oldham and others.

On today\\u2019s podcast, we talk to writer Michael Corcoran, whose research helped fill in the gaps of who, exactly, Phillips was, where he lived and when he died. We also talk about Phillips instrument of choice and how the dulceola theory was finally debunked.
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All of Corcoran\\u2019s findings on Phillips can be found on the new Dust to Digital book/CD recording called Washington Phillips and his Manzarene Dreams. It\\u2019s great music and great writing (the liner notes are actually a 76-page book)\\u2026 we can\\u2019t recommend it enough.

\\u201cWhere did this come from? That still remains the mystery,\\u201d Corcoran concludes. \\u201cI still don\\u2019t know that\\u2026 you really will never know the motivation of the artist\\u2026\\u201d

Discussed in this podcast:
http://www.pickaway.press/fz/wp.html (page dedicated to Washington Phillips\\u2019 instrument)

http://www.dust-digital.com/washington-phillips/ (Washington Phillips and his Manzarene Dreams)

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