Who Is Phil Keaggy?

Note:  When Phil made an appearance on P.O.D.'s album Payable On Death in November 2003, the owner of a fansite asked me to write a short biography for their site.  Since then, it's been updated and reposted on several artist message boards whenever Phil makes an appearance and people inevitably ask "Who is that guy?"  The most recent update was November 2004.

    Phil started playing guitar when he was ten years old and hasn't stopped since.  He received the guitar as a Christmas gift and was, for the most part, a self-taught guitarist.  Before school, after school and any other free time he had, Phil was playing the guitar.  Elvis and the Beatles were his early influences and he began playing in public within a few years.  Like any musician, he joined many different garage bands where he grew up in California and Ohio, and made his first official recording at the age of 16.  His older band mates would have to sneak him in and out of clubs he was otherwise too young to be in!

    When Phil was 17 years old, he teamed up with classmate, friend and drummer John Sferra to form the foundations of the progressive rock trio Glass Harp.  Daniel Pecchio was added a year later and the band quickly became a local favorite in and around Northeast Ohio.  After winning a local battle of the bands, someone took notice and they received a recording contract from legendary Decca records, following in the footsteps of bands like the Who and the Beatles.  Their first full-length self titled LP was recorded at Electric Lady studios and released in 1970.  The trio began opening for larger national acts such as Alice Cooper, Traffic, Yes and the Kinks and reviewers went wild, in many cases citing the opening act as the best part of the show!

    But what seemed like a charmed life didn't last long.  On Valentine's Day 1970, Phil experienced a bad drug trip in his hotel room and felt as if he were going to die.  At the same time, back home in Ohio his mother was involved in a serious car accident.  When she died of her injuries a week later, Phil was devastated.  A devout Catholic woman, his mother had been a source of strength for Phil and now he was facing a crisis.  After the funeral, his older sister Ellen took him to see a local pastor and Phil became a Christian.  

    Phil's personal struggles didn't slow the group down and Glass Harp kept touring and gaining more popularity.  They recorded another album for Decca, Synergy, also recorded at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady studio in 1971.  But Glass Harp’s strength has always been in it's live performances.  The group’s vocal harmonies, Phil’s incredibly clean and fast runs, the trio’s ability to predict each other’s musical movements, and their often very extended jams won over fans where studio releases did not.   So for the third album, the label requested a live recording and on Sunday November 21, 1971, Glass Harp got the gig that many musicians dream of their entire careers, opening for the Kinks at New York's famous Carnegie Hall.  Phil was just 19.  The show was perfect, but the record company decided to try one more studio album first.  Glass Harp Live At Carnegie Hall was put on the back burner and It Makes Me Glad was released in the fall of 1972.  But by then iPhil had made the hard decision to leave Glass Harp despite their growing popularity and imminent success.  The label had not spent much money promoting the band because they assumed success would just happen naturally, but without Phil, the magic was gone and Glass Harp parted ways before they had a chance to make it big.  There was a sense of disappointment, but all three members have remained friends through the years.  Reunions happened occasionally, but Phil, John and Daniel each persued their own careers.  Glass Harp Live At Carnegie Hall was lost for 25 years until it was released by Phil’s fan club in 1997.  

    To many fans, Phil seemed to disappear.  He married, moved to upstate New York and recorded the albums What A Day and Love Broke Through, now considered Christian music "classics", even before there was such a genre.  They were much different than Glass Harp.  The lyrics were more outspoken about his faith and the sound was more stripped down and acoustic in nature.  Much to his fans' delight, he picked up an electric guitar again record Emerging and tour with the Phil Keaggy Band from 1976 to 1979.  During that time, however, tragedy once more struck the Keaggy family.   From 1975 to 1977, Phil and his wife had conceived and lost 5 babies to premature birth.  Devastated and unable to put his feelings into words, Phil recorded his first instrumental, The Master and the Musician.  This was a ground breaking event for Christian music and the record label wasn't sure how to promote a "Christian" album without lyrics!  But The Master & the Musician is hailed by fans as one of Phil's finest recordings to date.  

    Throughout the '80's and '90's, Phil switched from label to label recording a wide variety of styles.  He rocked on with Ph'lip Side, Phil Keaggy and Sunday's Child (a 60s-ish homage to his Beatles influenced rock), Find Me In These Fields, Crimson & Blue and the instrumental rocker 220.  Showing his personal side, he put forth Way Back Home in 1986, one of his most personal albums along with his first self titled album in 1998.  He unplugged for Beyond Nature, Acoustic Sketches and In The Quiet Hours along with much of the four CD Music To Paint By series, showcased his spanish and classical guitar on Lights Of Madrid and he teamed up with two other great, but relatively unknown guitarists, Wes King and Scott Dente' to offer forth a guitar slinger's dream, Invention.  He went a bit techno and reflective on Inseparable and put his uncle's poems to music on Uncle Duke.  Fans gobbled up the fan club only Back Room Trax Volumes 1 through 6, which included many home demos and unreleased songs.  And, after nearly 30 years, Glass Harp came back from it's vacation to release a double live CD recorded with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra during a reunion show on October 22, 2000.  On the heels of Strings Attached's success, they released a new studio album, Hourglass, in 2003 and then in 2004 put forth Stark Raving Jams, a three disc set compiling nearly 30 years' worth of the live extended jams they are known for.

    Over the last 35 years, Phil has released more than 50 albums and contributed to hundreds, if not thousands, of other artists' material. He has played bars, high school assemblies, churches, ballrooms, auditoriums, arenas and festivals. He has played with an 11-year old guitar prodigy, a classical guitarist he met in a mall a few hours before, and everything in between, including the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Glass Harp has performed and been featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on two separate occasions and he has been nominated for multiple Grammys and won 7 Dove Awards. He's been named "guitarist of the year" by more than one magazine or organization and many young guitar players have been influenced by his playing.

    Phil and his wife have been strong public supporters of Compassion International and the fight against abortion and Bernadette has written a book, Losing You Too Soon, about their experiences with childbirth, to which Phil contributes the forward as well as a chapter specifically for fathers.  Together they have raised three children and will soon be among the “empty nesters”.  Phil has toured with bands, played solo dates, done studio recording for others and has blessed more people than he will ever realize with not only his musical talent, but also the willingness to share his experiences on stage and off, so that others might be comforted and encouraged.

    Through the years, Phil has proven himself across all styles of music. He can thrill an audience with an acoustic guitar as easily as he can with an electric. Whether he is playing progressive rock with Glass Harp or a simple acoustic ballad during a solo concert, leading an orchestra on classical guitar or just jamming with friends in a dressing room, his ability is clear.  Phil's energy, enthusiasm and humor are contagious! And once you slip a Les Paul into his hands, hold on to your seats!  It is almost difficult to believe that the man on stage burning up the fretboard is the same gentle, unassuming individual who greets fans afterward.

    Phil's talent is tempered only by his humility. Far from being a flashy guitar god, he is a soft-spoken family man always aware that God has given him an incredible gift and, while he values his family's privacy, he takes seriously the responsibility placed upon people in the public eye.  Christians and non-Christians alike respect not only his talent, but also his friendly demeanor, gentle heart and strength of character.  On stage he makes his faith known by sharing his personal experiences openly, but he neither preaches nor condemns those who do not agree.

    There are no signs of slowing down in Phil's career. Over the last five years, he has been more active than ever. In addition to touring, he has released more than 10 CDs of original solo material, some vocal, some instrumental. Glass Harp reunited in 2000 to play several dates a year with a mini-tour of the midwest in June 2004 as well as release two live albums and a new studio disc.  In 2003, Phil began again as an independent artist and already the freedom to record the music he wants to express is beginning to shine through in what he has produced.  In 2003 alone, he released three solo CDs, including a follow-up to the award winning 1996 CD Acoustic Sketches, titled Freehand and a compilation album, History Makers, and the Glass Harp studio release, Hourglass.  To top it off, he is featured on two tracks of P.O.D.’s most recent album, Payable On Death.  2004 is just as busy with the release of another CD, It’s Personal, putting a friend’s poems to music, a live DVD, Philly Live!, a live Glass Harp 3CD set, a Glass Harp mini-tour and so far he’s been featured on albums by Neal Morse (Spock’s Beard) and Dispatch.  

    The road to get to this point has been long and difficult but Phil Keaggy has taken it in stride.  Only God knows what's around the next curve for Phil and his music, but if history repeats itself, the soundtrack will be worth the ride.

© 2004, Stephanie Bargenquast, PKfans.com.