We often liberally use the term artist in a one-dimensional sense when referring to musicians. Phil Madeira, on the other hand, is as multi-dimensional as one could be. He is by turns multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, illustrator, painter, producer, sideman, frontman and could probably do just about anything with his creative mind. Madeira, by his own admission, is far from a household name but he’s become a fixture in Nashville and certainly in Americana circles for nearly three decades.
Madeira has quietly released five solo critically-acclaimed records, two in 2015, and has shared the stage with a head-spinning number of icons for whom as an instrumentalist, he’s played guitars, lap steel, accordion, dobro, piano or a Hammond B-3. He provides a variety of keyboards on the Grammy-winning TajMo album with Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. As a producer, besides individual artists, his highlights include the 2012 release of Americana Paul McCartney covers, Let Us In: Americana, the various artists he assembled for both volumes of Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us in 2011 and 2016, and Treasure of the Broken Land – the Songs of Mark Heard just last year.
As a songwriter, he’s written hits for bigger names too. In other words, Phil Madeira has made a career out of telling other people’s stories and giving them some stories to tell. Now, he’s stepping forward with a love letter to his native state, Rhode Island, a place that I am also deeply familiar with. So, we talked about the forthcoming Providence, as well as several topics.
Madeira says, “I knew in 2016 I was going to do a song cycle about Rhode Island, where I grew up and perhaps draw some connections to Nashville too. As you said, the liner notes speak about the genesis of the album but here’s what I left out. – I was crossing the Pell Bridge from Jamestown to Newport on a beautiful July morning to meet my friend, John Scofield, for breakfast as he was playing the Newport Jazz Festival that day. There was something about the early morning light on the bridge that convinced me, as I looked out over the blue and green and the land I knew so well, that I had to do this.”
Although Madeira has done plenty of solo work, this is his first piano-based record since 1995. Says Madeira, “I don’t know what happened, but I fell in love with piano again. Originally, I was going to do the record with some northern players, maybe get some rhythm players from New York. Over dinner one night, John Scofield and his wife Susan, and especially Susan, quickly talked me out of that. I started to think that Chris Donohue, bass player in The Red Dirt Boys is the best bass player I know and Bryan Owings, besides being my closest friend, is one heck of a drummer so why not do it that way. I knew from the outset that I didn’t want much guitar on the record, but I found a way to get Will Kimbrough on one song – “Native Son” and my friend Scofield on “Crescent Park.”
Speaking of Scofield who appeared on Mercyland, it was nice to hear his jazzy guitar on the album. Madeira met Scofield about ten years ago when he and Buddy Miller attended a Phil Lesh show when Scofield was in that band. “We got to talking, found out we had quite a bit in common and he and Susan have been great friends to me. I was there for them during a major loss and they were certainly there for me during one too. It doesn’t get any better than that in terms of friendship. They are both very humble people.”
In terms of his major accompanists on the album, mostly his buddies, The Red Dirt Boys, Emmylou Harris’ backing band, Madeira was effusive in the praise of this tight-knit unit. “Bryan and I left Buddy Miller’s band when we got the call from Emmy. In a way, I think that set Buddy free to play with other people. We’ve had Buddy in the guitar chair and Colin Linden for a brief period – both killer guitarists but nobody has nailed it like Will Kimbrough. We are working on a Red Dirt Boys record as we speak. I play mostly guitar with Will and I just love playing with these guys. They are like family. We’re going to London on a short gig with Emmylou, but I can’t wait to add a couple of songs to our record when we get back.”
Madeira talked about a very happy upbringing in Barrington, a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island as the son of a Baptist minister and church pianist. “My parents were very solid people, socially conscientious but it was like growing up in a congregation where people were constantly assessing you. I was dubbed the “wild one” – I started as a drummer you know when I was four or five years old, played in the high school band, and started playing piano and writing songs as a teenager. I left home for college {Taylor University in Indiana to study art} when I was 18.”
Madeira’s upbringing and his departure for college didn’t enable to participate much in the various Rhode Island music scenes. There was a burgeoning blues scene led by Johnny Nicholas, Duke Robillard, and others in the seventies but although Madeira would have likely fit in well, he wasn’t aware of those happenings. “You know when you grow up someplace, you’re not attuned to or care much about the local legends, it’s the bigger name legends you’re thinking about it. It’s funny though because Duke Robillard is one of my favorite musicians. He really swings. I saw him in the eighties in Providence, opening for Stevie Ray Vaughan. Yeah, a lot of great musicians have come out of Rhode Island – the band RIZZ, Talking Heads got their start in Providence, and even Gail Greenwood, the bass player for Belly was a neighbor of mine….she’s 5 or 6 years younger than I am but I can recall her peering through my basement window when I was down there playing drums …(pauses and laughs) I did manage to get a New Englander on the record. Dana Colley, the sax player from Morphine on it. I love Morphine and was happy to get him on the album,” said Madeira.
Given that Providence is primarily a piano trio album, we talked a bit about his piano influences. “Yeah, Ramsey Lewis is influencial, certainly on ‘Wicked Job” and others so you’re right about hearing a lot of his style there. Randy Newman is in songs like “Gothenburg” and “Back in the Ocean State.” Mose Allison is an influence in terms of how I shaped the lyrics but not for his piano playing. ‘Wide Eyed Dream,’ of course, is about Mose. I do nod to Thelonius Monk. You’ll hear it in my solos on ‘Crescent Park” and “Rich Man’s Town.” Songs like “Rich Man’s Town,” specifically about Barrington,” Barrington,” and “Back in the Ocean State” reflect on his childhood. Others, like “Dearest Companion” and a “Rhode Island Yankee on Jefferson Davis Court” with its great lines “When I called my mother up/she said you don’t talk like us no more/You’re a Rhode Island Yankee on Jefferson Davis Court” make the connection between where he was raised and Nashville. We joked a bit about the reference to Rhode island’s iconic discount store, Ann and Hope, in “Wicked Job,” as I posed the notion of writing a song about Benny’s, my father’s favorite store. (“Oh yeah, the hardware store,” laughing) I also tested him, mentioning that I remembered the amusement park, Rocky Point, not Crescent Park. Madeira’s sense of geography is still well intact as he commented, “That’s because you were on that side of the Bay Crescent Park was in East Providence. You could take a boat and Rocky Point was right across the Bay”
Although Madeira, whose mother and sister still reside in New England, tries to visit once or twice a year with his two adult daughters, his roots are clearly in Nashville now. “Nashville’s been very good to me. It’s fun to go back to Rhode Island and play for Emmylou and see my high school buddies and I miss the seafood, the clam chowder, beaches like Goosewing in Little Compton which is actually a nature preserve now but I’ve made my adult life in Nashville.”
We then talked a bit about his Christian music background and current life in Nashville. Madeira, though studying art in college, continued to write songs and play and while attending the conservative, religious Taylor University, he met Christian music guitarist Phil Keaggy. “When I met him, he told me that I’d be in his band some day and sure enough, three years later I was. Rhode Island offered me little career hope, so I wound up moving to Nashville. By ‘85 I had plenty of people telling me I didn’t really belong in Christian music. I guess I lacked the piety. But one great thing happened in Christian Music- I met Buddy and Julie Miller, who also were fish out of water. Obviously, that changed my career and the shape of my life.”
In recent years Madeira has built his own exercise routine of sorts. “Every morning I do a four and half mile loop at a place called Radnor Lake. I like to get there early so I can get a parking spot and before the trail gets too crowded. I started doing this out of necessity when my partner got cancer and was dying. I went out there to ponder…ponder the imponderable I guess. Now I kind of play games in my head – I come up with some song ideas and just keep repeating the lyrics so that when I sit down, I can remember them.”
So, with that comment we were back to music and I shared my amazement at his many endeavors. Gleaning All Music Guide for the list of credits associated with Madeira will make one’s thumb weary scrolling down. We spoke about just a few projects. “Working with Taj Mahal was special. He was one of my first influences. I had a painting of him that I did hanging on my wall in college. So, yeah I was excited when Kevin (Keb’ Mo’) called and asked me to be on the record and on my way back from England in 2016, they asked me to tour with them. But this was around the same time that my partner was diagnosed with cancer and in good conscience, I didn’t feel right about doing the tour. Then Emmy called, and we had about six weeks of work which was doable, in light of the circumstances. I couldn’t have been with a more perfect set of friends during a tragic time.” Mentioning his work on The Waterboys Modern Blues album, Madeira said that he overdubbed lap steel for a couple of tracks but that he enjoyed working with Mike Scott. Then Madeira offered, “Now I’ve opened up that list you’re referring to. My favorite of all of them is writing the liner notes for John Scofield’s Country for Old Men.
Commenting on his various roles, Madeira said, “I love all of it. I love playing for Emmy with those guys. As a sideman you don’t have all the pressure. It gives you a break but believe me, I’m thrilled to play my own material. I admire anyone who is in music as a career these days. It’s tough and it’s good to be versatile. Producing means you don’t have to tour. But I know this; if I’m going to do a project I’m calling the guys in the Red Dirt Boys first. If Will’s not available, I’ll turn to John Mark Painter. He did the horn arrangements on the album. He and his wife play in band called Fleming & John. Same thing about Chris and Bryan, if they’re not available, there might be one or two other people I’d go to. I keep my world small. I’ve been at this long enough and I’ve found my family now. No need to break that up.”
In terms of touring behind the album, Madeira’s expectations are modest. “Twenty gigs would be great. I do have the album release party in Providence at The Columbus Theater on April 6th and I’m excited about that. I did get a call to do some gigs in Sweden because of “Gothenburg” – they liked the video. Madeira is referencing the last song on the record, the city from which his grandparents emigrated to Rhode Island. Mentioning that the video was getting quite a buzz, Madeira reacted, “Yeah, I was happy with it. I did it myself with the help of a friend. I didn’t really have a budget, but we made it work somehow.”
That’s the essence of Phil Madeira, he always makes it work, even when the odds are against him. Providence releases April 6th.
One Response
There was something about the early morning light on the bridge that convinced me, as I looked out over the blue and green and the land I knew so well, that I had to do this.!