Talkin’ to Myself - Larry Phillipson & Larry Lee Trio
Milwaukee-born Larry Phillipson’s 1999 induction into The Rockabilly Hall of Fame served as a kind of vindication against at the club owner who directed him to play more straight-up country in order to not attract minors to the adults-only establishment. Philipson’s earliest recordings were more honky-tonking, influenced by childhood musical heroes such as Ernest Tubb. But the six songs collected on Talkin’to Myself find him indulging in his ‘billy side in the mid-1960s for prolific Southeastern Wisconsin indie label Cuca Records.
If that seems like a late timeframe for the style Elvis Presley and his Sun Records contemporaries helped to develop, true enough. But Phillipson’s take on the genre, though raw as that of the pompadoured hep cats who preceded him, occasionally reflected trends in the pop country of the time. It’s not a far stretch to hear some of Philipson’s nasally twangy voice helming slicker, orchestrally imbued Nashville sound arrangements.
That’s no strike against him as it speaks to the versatility of his songwriting. And his foray into what sounds like morally based lyrics could have fit the gospel’billy repertoire of Fern Jones. Philipson died in 2018, and though an album compiling the whole of his varied discography would be consistently rewarding, these half-dozen tracks give insight into a journeyman with a sizable share of inspiration.
