Tom Phillips and The D.T.s

TOM PHILLIPS AND THE D.T.’S Calgary, Alberta Band leader. Honky-tonk hero. Even soundtrack writer for a book (a Canadian first, for a Will Ferguson novel.) Survivor and singer of cautionary tales. You want it, you got it from Tom Phillips, whose career’s turned itself inside out so often that at times he appears to be a shape shifter. During the past few years, Phillips’ transformation was also physical as he swapped alcohol for coffee and his trademark cowboy boots and shirts for polished shoes and tailored suits. But appearances distract, and Phillips is no shape shifter: if you took a musical x-ray during every incarnation, you’d find song writing as the bedrock under the suits, boots, cowboy hats and skin. Which explains why revered blues artist Eric Bibb covered Phillips’ touchstone tune, Ribbons and Bows, on one of his albums. An esteemed statesperson of the Calgary music scene, Phillips earned his laurels over decades. He recorded with Gordon Lightfoot’s band in Toronto before releasing several albums, both live and in studio, with his legendary long time honky-tonk band The Men of Constant Sorrow (MOCS).