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Phil Round: valley music staple, mentor
Singer, guitarist, musician, teacher
and bandleader Phil Round is one of
Jackson’s longest standing professional
musicians and teachers, though largely
unknown to the younger generation of
players in and around the valley.
From 1986 to 1996, Round toured
with internationally acclaimed,
Jackson-grown bluegrass band, Loose
Ties. The band went on to produce five
CDs, perform at Telluride Bluegrass
Festival six times (winning their Best
New Band competition), and placed
second to Alison Krauss and Union
Station at the Best New Acoustic
Group competition in Louisville,
Kentucky.
After a decade of touring and recording,
Round moved from the public sector
to the private. He formed the Snake
River Band and began performing both
solo and with his band at weddings,
corporate events, and private parties.
He also performs regularly as a soloist
in the lobby of Amangani Hotel.
Planet Jackson Hole: Who’s in the
Snake River Band and what’s it all
about?
Phil Round: The core of the band is
largely myself, Ed Domer & Derrik
Hufsmith, but even those players could
change. Depending upon whether we’re
more of a jazz standard band, or an
R&B band, or a country band … we have
a huge repertoire. We can cover
upwards of 1,500 songs from all kinds
of different genres, from Lyle Lovett and
Frank Sinatra, to Bossa Novas to Sting.
The band can morph into different entities.
Sometimes I’ll fly people in from
Nashville if it’s called for.
PJH: You mentioned that a lot of people
in Jackson might not know of the
Snake River Band. If people were interested
in seeing you guys play after they
read this, would there be a public
opportunity?
PR: No, we don’t play publicly, and
that’s why we’re below the radar.
Obviously, the wages that are paid for
club gigs … first of all, we don’t want to
play in clubs. Really, I have no interest
in justifying my existence through alcohol
sales, and that’s what you have to
do in the club scene. And that’s a necessary
evil. We’ve all played a ton of
club dates over the years and that’s
what all musicians have to do, but it’s a
pretty nice luxury, or payoff, after years
Phil Round
of doing this where you don’t have to
justify [it that way]. And hey, I’m not
some religious fundamentalist, but the
people who are deciding whether musicians
get to play are alcohol salesmen.
PJH: I hear what you’re saying. What
about a venue that doesn’t necessarily
bank on alcohol sales, like the Center
Theater?
PR: Well, that’s a possibility, but
we’re not a concert band. I was in a
concert band for many years, the Loose
Ties band. The Snake River Band is a
different entity. It’s a party band and a
dance band. It isn’t designed for the
generation that populates clubs right
now. That’s probably the one demographic
that we don’t handle so well
[laughs]. I’ve written some stuff, but our
clients aren’t interested in hearing original
material, they’re interested in hearing
stuff they recognize. My interest is
in doing this material … well … not
exactly transcribed, but playing these
covers at a high enough integrity where
its not only recognizable, but impressive
to people. Playing live is necessarily
imperfect … and it can be an adrenal
rush. I like that level of excitement.
PJH: How do you balance teaching
with performing live?
PR: I usually don’t teach on weekend
days when I’m performing, but sometimes
it overlaps. Sometimes, I might be
the only singer and singing for four
www.PlanetJH.com updated daily l Planet Jackson Hole l November 12 - 18, 2008 25
MUSICBOX
Aaron Davis
hours straight, which didn’t used to be
a big deal, but as I get older, singing is
a pretty physical thing … a lot more
physically taxing than playing. Even
though the Amangani is a mellow scene
and un-amplified, it actually requires
more of me as a singer than when I’m
playing with a band through a good
sound system. You have to fill the room
with just your lungs.
PJH: What drew you to teaching
music in the first place?
PR: What drew me to teaching
[laughs] … was the necessity to make
a living. Of course I wouldn’t have had
the confidence to be a teacher if I had
not attended the Berklee College of
Music. Though I didn’t go for very
long, I learned so much in my time
there that gave me confidence to do a
good job. It’s always been hard on
some level to make a living as a musician.
My philosophy is that you want to
be able to do a lot of different things,
not be a one-trick pony. One of those
is teaching. I didn’t really aspire to be
a teacher, but once I started, you realize
that you are constantly learning
when you are teaching. You have these
epiphanies in the middle of explaining
something and all of a sudden your
playing a chord you’ve never played in
your life before.
PJH: What advice would you give to
young musicians who are considering a
career in the music business?
PR: The thing I tell musicians that
work with me and for me is that you really
gotta have your act together. No matter
how talented you are and how much
people might love what you do, you are
an independent businessperson. On
some level, its not any different than running
a general store or a gas station.
The very best players in Nashville, if
they’re hard to work with, they don’t
work. You can’t play well enough to overcome
being an asshole. Eventually you’ll
get kicked out of the band or people
won’t want to work with ya.
It’s a joke, but just because you’re a
guitar player doesn’t mean you shouldn’t
be a musician. You should be able
to communicate and speak the same
language to other musicians. If you’re
mammothly talented with wood, you
don’t deprive yourself from having a
chop saw or a really nice plane as a
carpenter. PJH
In addition to keeping his finger on the local music pulse, Aaron Davis is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, trout hunter and snow rider
originally from the rolling hills of Kentucky. www.aarondavismusic.com.
THEGOODS
ANDREW WYATT
A sign spotted in the top of
Movieworks Cinema inspired the
name of high school indie-rock band
Rotating Superstructure. The quartet
will be the featured act at this
week’s Friday Live concert. Talking
with 17-year-old drummer Shawn
Fleming, I quickly realize that these
guys live to play music, and they will
for years to come.
“We practice quite a bit … about
every weekday night for a couple of
hours and usually Saturdays,”
Fleming said.
Other band members include
Shawn’s brother Kyle Fleming on
guitar, bassist Bridger Huhn, and
Victor Pokorny on guitar, piano, and
vocals, as well as being the primary
songwriter. With influences ranging
from folk to indie music, these four
players listen to everything from
Radiohead to Bob Dylan, Modest
Mouse, MGMT, My Morning Jacket,
and The Virgins. With their high
school careers coming to an end,
thoughts are wandering beyond
Jackson Hole.
“We’ve been talking about that a
lot,” Fleming said. “We might move to
somewhere like Seattle for a couple of
years … try to tour and play as much
as possible. If the band doesn’t work
out, maybe music school or be a studio
musician.”
The band performed at last summer’s
Music in the Hole to thousands
of people, and also had gigs around
town at galleries and the art fair. Next
month, they will branch out to perform
in Salt Lake City, and to record
10 original tunes for their upcoming
release, Fat Chicks with Party Hats.
Jackson Hole Music Experience
will host Friday Live! featuring
Rotating Superstructure 5 to 7 p.m.
at Jackson Hole High School.
Admission is $5, which includes one
free raffle ticket for an electric guitar
or an iPod. Pizza and drinks will be
for sale. Visit www.JHME.org or
myspace.com/rotatingsuperstructure,
email info@jhme.org, or call
733-3970. PJH