Exposed Vocals just caught an interview with Lynn Phipps and guitarist, Joeseef de Leon

Hailing from the small town of Canyon, Lynn Phipps is what happens when you mix the beauty of Texas red dirt roots with Bluegrass melancholy magic.

A musical love affair with depression-era flair, Lynn is the millennial answer to a simpler time when music was truly sincere and the American West was nothing but a wild dusty plain of dirt roads and dreams. Fans of The Carter Family, Mumford And Sons & more are instantly drawn into her ability to create hauntingly familiar harmonies with effortless artistic expression.

If you have any doubt that Lynn takes her traditional, earnest musical approach to heart, just take a listen to Until We Meet Again, recorded LIVE in an authentic field of buffalo grass near her Texas home. Lynn has nothing but pure passion for her Pentecostal root infused sound and Bluegrass fans across the plains have nothing but love for the music she creates.

Having already made noise at The Albuquerque Folk Festival, Austin’s legendary Cactus Cafe and The Blue Grasshopper, Lynn Phipps is an artist poised to take her old-time fabulous show coast to coast in the coming year. 2018 will also see the exciting release of her first full length album produced by Austin native, songwriting partner and accomplished guitarist Joseef de Leon.

Stay tuned for more show dates & updates soon…

Links: instagram.com/lynnphippsmusic
twitter.com/lynnphippsmusic

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Joe – I grew up in Austin, Texas. It’s a big city, and it’s just as big on its music. It’s the kind of place where, growing up, you could throw a rock and hit a guitarist. I eventually picked up the guitar when I was 12, when went and dropped about $200 bucks on a brand new guitar. After a bit of a slow start, I got serious about music and now it’s what I do.

Lynn – Canyon, Texas is where I call home. I decided to become an artist because it’s always been something I wanted to do. I wanted to be an actress, but my grandaddy was a guitarist so I figured I’d give it a go. So after a lot of hard work, here I am.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Practice, because that’s the best thing you can do for yourself. If you’re dedicated to your art, and you really work at improving your musical ability, then you might just find yourself sought after. If you’re really good and you keep practicing (and I mean really, keep practicing), then folks are going to hear that and they’re going to want you around. Also, going to gigs with a CD in hand tends to make venues a lot more willing to book you. Other than that, talk to folks. Ask for gigs. Find places willing to give you a shot at playing. Just always try to be respectful, earnest, and polite to the people you work with. Bonus points if you can be genuinely charming.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Seriously? There’s no such thing, really. Mistakes are overrated. If we had to sum up our philosophy here, mistakes generally go as quick as they come. And the truth is, the pair of us make what you might call “mistakes” all the time. But, in spite of all that, we’ve managed to have a ton of really great shows. We’re really not promising you’ll be perfect, or that everyone’s going to love your work no matter what. We’re really just saying that you don’t have to be perfect. Just do what you can to keep your confidence, and continue on.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

We haven’t toured together yet. But, we’ve still managed to get ourselves into a good amount of trouble.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Joe – Last year, we managed to cobble together about $200 dollars worth of studio. As it turns out, that was about all we needed for now. Currently, our studio consists of two twenty dollar XLR condenser microphones, an analogue-to-digital audio interface, and some twenty dollar headphones. It’s a budget studio through and through, but it’s what we’ve used to record the later stuff we have out now. All of the singles we currently have were 100% done by us with just one of the mics actually. Though I’m sure a lot of folks are doubtful about the viability of such a studio setup, I say this: yall wouldn’t be the first to disbelieve the quality of our recordings, given what we had to work with.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Promotion is pretty tough, but not overly complicated. It’s really a matter of getting yourself out there on the platforms that people use, and supplying content. Something that works particularly well for us is Bandcamp, because it gets a decent amount of traffic and we’ve gotten a fair amount of business there. Also, Facebook has been a great tool for reaching out to people. Beyond that, we’d recommend getting on all the social media you can, and giving your info to any gig that will take it. Do what you can to make yourself heard. Also, have pictures, a bio, and music to show off to the world. And remember, it’s probably going to take a serious, strategic effort to be heard.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Lynn – Dave Rawlings at a rest-stop in rural Kansas. Preferably one with a candy machine. So that people passing by could be like, “No, that couldn’t be.”

Joe – I’d want to perform with Mumford and Sons, at some dive with strings of incandescent lights. They came to my high school when I was a kid, and I just thought they were the coolest. It would be something to play a dinky little diner with them under some old-timey lighting.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Well, next up is more gigs and an album. Currently, we’re looking at a live show and a concert with NPR’s High Plains Public Radio, as well as a show with a cafe in town. We’re also working on putting out our first album, which is (hopefully) just a few months off. Other than that we’re looking at writing a whole ton of new songs, so hopefully there will be some quality content coming y’all’s way soon!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Lynn – If I wasn’t in music, I think I’d run a bakery that specialized in unlikely cupcake flavors. Because I always found them fun.

Joe – Honest? Not sure. Of all my passions through life, music is about the only one I’ve managed to stick with. I’ve tried a whole lot of things from football to movie editing. But the one thing that has stuck with me through all the rest has been music. It’s just something I kept coming back too when everything else started to lose me.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

Hopefully an album. And a whole mess of gigs! And some singles too. A tour maybe? Some more photography shoots? A tornado of old-time songs that makes you wanna work dry, dusty and lifeless fields in the American Midwest like it’s 1932? We sure hope so.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

Shout-out to our families for believing in this career. Shout-out to Matt Phipps for being such a stellar photographer. And shout-out to Birdee Bow, she’s done a really wonderful job working with us!