Album Notes

Phylis was born and raised and still lives on Chicago's very south side.

At a very young age she knew that she wanted to sing.

While other grade school girls her age were playing Barbie & Ken, Phylis was playing Barbie & her rock band! She soon traded her Barbie in for a guitar.

Then the ritual began...music lessons...

church guitar group...etc.After attending her first rock concert at the tender age of twelve(not so young and tender by today's standards...but it used to be!), she was hooked.

Phylis grew up with many older brothers and sisters who had an influence on her musical taste.

Beatles, Stones,Janis(Joplin & Ian!), Zeppelin, Traffic, Joni, Cat Stevens, Motown...all varied kinds of great music."I remember begging my sister to let me take her Beatle albums to school for show and tell when I was in first grade!"

Her early vocal influences were definitely the power or soul voices.....Heart...Manchester...Ronstadt...Aretha......When just starting out, her friends used to call her Phylissa...as in Melissa Manchester.

Phylis's influences continue to flow and change with the times.....Now today she is still sometimes called Phylissa...as in Etheridge...

But she really has her own flavor and sound.

"I feel that I am not a very good emulator...and really don't like to try and do that.....Although I may remind you of someone(which can be flattering at times)...I really don't think I sound anything like that one person!" As you can tell by these opening sentences, Phylis has been singing most all her life,starting out early with just her guitar.

She reaches many different audiences with her church singing and her rock singing.

Her first love though is singing rock music mixed up with a little pop and a lot of bluesy soul.

Throughout her life she has woven through a long thread of bands.

She's had some great experiences...with her most recent cover band..Phyl 'n the Cracks...she was featured on Jonathon Brandmeier's Radio Showgram on WLUP...getting pulled out of the shower early one summer morning...by good old mom..."Johnny B's on the phone!" "I received so many positive calls from listeners from surrounding states...aaah, so this is what fame tastes like...pretty good...only if I had originals recorded back then." She and her band also got the opportunity to play at some great venues in Chicago.

After that band expired,with achieving great success, Phylis longed to take it a step further by recording her own music.

She had been writing for quite sometime but didn't feel the time or present band members were right.

Carefully hand picking her participants, she rehearsed them diligently, then went into the studio for the first of many sessions.

"It was very fun and exciting to see these great musicians/friends bring my music to life.

They really helped me nail what I wanted to express.

Thank you Mike, Doug, Frank, Scott and Ted." She started playing out again under a more "eclectic" name (so she thought) with still her signature ...

Phylodendron.

Many people told her it was a good name because a philodendron is hard to kill and it always comes back! And that is what Phylis wanted ...to have staying power ....keep coming back with her songs/ music/voice! For the past few years Phylis has been on her own, debuting her music at various incredible showcases (chicksingernight.com *, singerspotlight.com) at great venues (Beat Kitchen, Abbey Pub, Fitzgerald's) in Chicago.

She wanted to write as a goal but has gained more than she has ever imagined (She's a realist, you see!).

"It is really a different feeling....getting applause and acceptance for performing an artist's song...but when you are the artist...that's even sweeter...it's very different from doing a cover tune well....it's amazing and humbling all at once!" With her music she earned a spot on a Chicago cable show about the arts, a cd review (http://musesmuse.com/mrev-renee.html) in an internet songwriter's magazine, a finalist placement in Sennheiser's Evolution Mics Band Contest in February 2000 ("I won a righteous mic among other little goodies!").

Well, what is happening right now in March 2001 for Phylis musically......

Joining cd baby is a big step..."after selling more cds than I could fathom at my last 2 showcases..I thought..maybe someone else would like my music...I am always stunned and ecstatic when people want to buy!" This month also marks the Phylis's premiere on Gurlwhurls Radio...an indie internet station featuring women, (http://www.gopha.net/whurls).

"I got to record a station I.D. for them...fun, fun, fun!" "Again I am deliriously happy, like Julia Roberts at the Oscars, when someone likes my music...enough to play it on their station...no gimmicks...I've listened to so much blah, blah, blah...you should sound like this....you should look like this....you should produce your songs like this...It's thrilling and refreshing to be accepted for yourself...Art is individual.....I try to record my songs with the initial gut feelings I penned them with...no fancy studio hocus pocus...so if it can't be done live...you probably won't hear it on any of my recordings....I am a realist and know that...I also know that....I am a work in progress..." Sign up for Phylis's mailing list..email her with your email info AND address (yes she still believes in the personal touch of snail mail) at phylis_r@yahoo.com