Grant-Lee Phillips Shares New Single 'All By Heart'

Today, acclaimed Nashville-based singer/songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips shares "All By Heart," the third single from his forthcoming 11th studio album, All That You Can Dream, out May 20 on Yep Roc Records.

Of the song Phillips offers, "All by Heart" is a different kind of bond. We are bound together through human experience. There's also a collective trauma that we carry within us. In this country, we are very much engaged in processing the trauma that was baked into our nation's colonial past. One strategy is to haul it out in the light and talk about it, and another is to deny it. That battle is being played out. It's a painful process, but history has elected us to do so. A part of us remembers the past on a deep level, and I think it animates our actions in ways that we aren't so conscious of."

In support of the album, Phillips will hit the road for a nine-date run beginning June 2 at City Winery in Boston, with stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Cleveland, Chicago, and more. A complete list of tour dates is below; tickets are now on sale.

Like many musicians, Phillips sought out silver linings wherever he could find them once the pandemic hit. Once he realized touring was still on hold for the foreseeable future, he started to write and record a new solo album at home. "I found respite in the process when I could do little else. It became a sort of meditation on this time in my life and the events that we've collectively experienced."

Understandably introspective, the resulting All That You Can Dream is anchored by Phillips' empathetic voice and rich acoustic guitar with lyrics that attempt to make sense of an uncertain, anxiety-riddled time while accepting once-unshakeable things are now fragile or fallible, and using historical references to illuminate modern truths.

"We've experienced some staggering events over the past several years or so," offers Phillips. "When people speak of those things, it's not enough to simply highlight or underline the headlines of the day. The aim is to tap into the feelings that we share that are trapped beneath our skin-and figure out how we expel those feelings by talking about them."

Produced, engineered, mixed, and recorded by Phillips at his Nashville home, he is joined on the album by drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss) and bassist Jennifer Condos (Ray LaMontagne, Bruce Springsteen) with additional parts on selected songs by Jamie Edwards (keyboards), Eric Heywood (pedal steel) and Richard Dodd (cello).

"I rang Jay and Jennifer out in L.A. to discuss sending tracks back and forth. They were going stir crazy themselves and welcomed the idea of a long-distance recording project. They tracked to my vocal, guitar and piano tracks - as though we were all in one room. This more gradual kind of production allowed me to ruminate on the songs and arrange parts for strings, keys, etc...."

Admittedly an adjustment to writing at home, a process he was used to doing in the solitude of the road, Phillips was still inspired by movement. He took daily countryside drives with his family, marveling at nature and the landscape, even as his songwriting focused on global events. "I found that the circumstances of being off the road and left to reflect on what this time feels like produced a different kind of song," Phillips says. "In some ways, that freed me up to write and record the kind of song that was personal and executed as though it were for an audience of myself alone. That's freeing."

The California-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, actor, film composer, and visual artist began his career as the frontman for Grant Lee Buffalo. Named "male vocalist of the year" by Rolling Stone, USA Today called him a "soulful balladeer," while Uncut hailed him as a "distinguished U.S. songwriter." In 2016, he reprised his role as the beloved town troubadour in the Netflix revival of Gilmore Girls.

Listen to the new single here:

Grant-Lee Phillips: On Tour

June 2 - City Winery Loft - Boston, MA
June 3 - City Winery - New York City, NY
June 4 - City Winery Loft - Philadelphia, PA
June 5 - City Winery Loft - Washington, DC
June 7 - Club Café - Pittsburgh, PA
June 8 - Music Box - Cleveland, OH
June 9 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI
June 10 - Old Town School of Folk - Chicago, IL
June 11 - Shank Hall - Milwaukee, WI

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