Candid Composer
For Jill Phillips, songwriting is all about honest lyrics and real life—warts and all.
by Michael Herman | posted 12/22/2003
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Singer/songwriter Jill Phillips released her self-titled debut with Word Records in 1999, but soon was dropped by the label. She pressed on through the indie scene for a few years, touring often and releasing the critically-acclaimed God && Money (2001). In 2003, she was signed to Fervent Records for the release of her third latest CD, Writing on the Wall, a critical favorite here at Christian Music Today. We talked with Jill about the journey, and what she's learned along the way.
Tell us about your sound and your approach to music.
Jill Phillips: Mainly, with my husband Andy, I play a basic acoustic set. We're both songwriters and we'll write songs together or alone. Our goal is to write honest songs that are about where I'm at, what I'm going through, along with experiences I'm a part of or have simply observed. Other times, I write about things I've been taught, about frustrations, joy in my life, or whatever that means to write honestly.
Rich Mullins always talked about writing honestly. It's important. It's not just about writing what I want to hear or how I want to be perceived. I need to be as truthful about my struggles as I am about my times of rejoicing—that all leads to hope. I feel that way because it's what separates us as Christians from the rest of the world. We go through all of these struggles and realities, just as the world does, but we have hope.
You started out on a record label, then went independent for a while. Why go back to a label?
Phillips: Well, it was time to do another record. We had some songs ready, so it became a matter of deciding if we'd do it independently or if we would look at other avenues. Now I have a son, so we have less time to do things than we did before he came along. We couldn't wear all of the hats we had worn as indie artists before we had our son.
About a week before Fervent contacted me, I told Andy, "It might be worth considering a label for this next record." We were really wondering if we could do it on our own at this time in our life. We needed help and we didn't know what that help would look like. Then Fervent contacted us. They're a small, intimate label with good support behind them. It felt like the right thing for us.
You've been on a lot of compilation albums in recent years. Was that an intentional plan?
Phillips: It was so weird. Since I went independent, I became "Compilation Woman." I did Left Behind Worship, Girls of Grace, The Mercy Project, The Prayer of Jabez EP, and a Psalms project with Bruce Carroll for his church. But it was so much fun. It's a lot less pressure than doing my own record and I was able to do different kinds of things related to each project's themes.
Of course we're real selective about the songs we put on my albums. So sometimes it's just fun to go in and sing someone else's song and have fun with it. I was able to work with people I wouldn't have worked with otherwise. I really hope I get to do a lot more of them in the future.
I also love singing background vocals. I've been doing a lot of that. It challenges me creatively. I was a part of Andrew Peterson's new record, Love && Thunder—and it's amazing if you haven't heard it yet.
It sounds a lot like the artistic community that City on a Hill and Michael Card promote.
Phillips: Yeah, it is—I hope so. There's a real community of us that live in town that are friends as well as peers. We like to support each other. We've toured together. We like to hang out. I've been a part of Andrew's Christmas show every year. You don't always find that community in a lot of genres, but you find that in Christian music.
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