Clang & Clatter

“Rise Up” is Glen Phillips song that was recorded for the Works Progress Administration album WPA. If I had to guess, this song has been floating around in one form or another for years prior to it being put to tape (or to 0s and 1s as is most often the case these days). I wish I had at least a few details on this particular performance, but suffice it to say, it appears to have been recorded in a television studio someplace. And as with most of Glen’s tunes, I much prefer this simple, stripped-down version with just him and a guitar over the more produced album version.

Enjoy!

In this video interview with NPR’s Mountain Stage, WPA’s Glen Phillips, Sean Watkins, and Luke Bulla discuss the formation of the musical collective, how it operates, how the album was recorded, and their plans for the future. This is a very interesting interview as I was not aware of some the beginnings of the collaboration between these artists.

Take a listen to WPA in concert after the jump to the NPR Mountain Stage site.

I loved Toad the Wet Sprocket from the very first time I heard them (although if you put a gun to my head I couldn’t tell what song that was). Toad was always one of those bands that—minus a couple of tracks—could do no wrong in my eyes. Part of the reason is Glen Phillips’ smooth vocals and his introspective, often self-depricating songwriting. So it came as no surprise that after Glen put Toad to bed—only to wake it up several times over the years to play reunion shows and one-off benefit concerts—he entered the singer/songwriter ranks, more often than not playing shows with just an acoustic guitar.

In addition to his solo work, Glen has been involved in quite a few side projects and collaborations that span multiple genres, including Mutual Admiration Society, a union between him and the new-grass trio Nickel Creek, and the newer Works Progress Administration, a musical collective that includes Sean Watkins and fiddle player (fiddler? fiddlist?) Luke Bulla, who has a resume that reads like a who’s who of country and bluegrass all-stars and whose self-titled debut album features performances by members of acts like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello and the Impostors, Wilco, Joni Mitchell, and Beck.

Glen Phillips stopped by the Paste Magazine offices not too long ago to deliver this performance of “Always Have My Love,” the Phillips-penned first track off the WPA album. This interpretation of the song is fairly representative of Glen’s solo shows, but you can view a clip of WPA playing a version that is closer to the original on Glen’s YouTube channel.