Phillip Phillips on His Journey: Balancing Music, Fatherhood, and Authenticity in Nashville’s Music Scene

Takin’ A Walk Nashville

In this episode of Takin' A Walk Nashville, host Sarah Harrelson interviews American Idol winner Phillip Phillips about his transition from

Key takeaways

• Phillip Phillips is navigating a new era as an independent artist after exiting 19 Interscope.
• His new EP, 'Let's Go Far, Volume 1,' draws heavily from his life in South Georgia and his desire to be present for his children.

Main topics

• Independent music career
• New EP: Let's Go Far, Volume 1

Notable quotes

Pressure's good, man. That means you care.

Conclusion

The episode offers an inspiring look at how artists can find creative

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Taking a walk Nashville. Hi Speaker 3 (0:02) everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. And today you know this guest as the winner of the 11th season of American Idol in 2012. Since releasing his five times platinum debut single Home in spring 2012, South Georgia native Phillip Phillips has released three chart-topping albums and has taken his expansive brand of earthy, guitar-fueled rock to stages across the globe. With his soulful vocals and ruggedly warm sensibilities, the Georgia-bred 32-year-old saw his first full-length effort, The World from the Side of the Moon, go platinum after debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Speaker 2 (0:44) 200. Speaker 3 (0:45) In 2014, his second album, Behind the Light, offered up the lead anthemic folk rock radio hit Raging Fire. Phillips released Miles in the summer of 2017 as he toured North America with the Goo Goo Dolls as a precursor to his third full-length collateral album. After exiting 19 Interscope, Phillips returned to making music that was most authentic to him and released Love Like That in 2022. In 2023, Phillips released his first album as an independent artist. Drift back with top 15 AC hits Dancing With Your Shadows and Love Like That. Now fully independent and creatively recalibrated, Phillips has stepped into his most rootsy Americana-leaning era yet. Introduced by Homesick and Let's Go Far singles, he will continue that momentum with Remember Me ahead of the new EP Let's Go Far Vol. 1. This is an iHeart Podcast. Speaker 3 (1:47) Guaranteed human. Speaker 2 (1:53) Welcome to Takin' a Walk Nashville with your host, singer-songwriter Sarah Harrelson. Speaker 3 (1:59) Phillip, thank you so much for being here today on Takin' a Walk Nashville. How are you? Speaker 1 (2:03) I'm doing all right. Your voice is very soothing. I could have taken a nap. You get those situations when someone has that voice that's really relaxing. I was like, oh man, this would be a perfect nap situation here. You could read stories or whatever. No, that was a great thanks for the introduction. Yeah, thanks for having me out here. I appreciate it. Speaker 3 (2:22) good to see you. We're at City Limit Studios here today in Nashville. As I mentioned, your new EP, it's called Let's Go Far, Volume 1. It's described as rootsy, Americana-leaning chapter. It reflects on how far you've come, the strength to keep moving forward. Tell me about the making and inspiration behind this EP. Speaker 1 (2:46) Yeah, I should just let... send you everything. So you have, you're really describing everything perfectly. Um, you know, these songs, uh, really wrote most of them back at home and then finish them up here in Nashville. So yeah, I lived, I still live down in South Georgia and, uh, you know, ever since having my son, um, I just, I want to be home all the time. And so that these songs kind of represent that and kind of the struggles of like still wanting to, um, Still want to go after the dream that I've, you know, fell in love with when I was 14 years old. And so there's that kind of struggle of still wanting to do that, but also wanting to show my, you know, now have a little girl as well. And I want to show both of them that, you know, you need to go out, you know, continue to go after your dreams and that it's okay to do that. And even if that means you have to, you know, move on and, you know, get away from where you're from. Speaker 1 (3:45) It's really in a small form of saying that. That's kind of what it's about and without too much detail, but really loving these songs. And it's kind of going back to that first album of how all of those songs have kind of shaped who I was. Like that first album, most of the songs are except for like two, maybe. I had written... before I was even on the show. And so a lot of those songs were, you know, songs that were, you know, when I was just living with my parents and stayed in my room, just writing what was, you know, feeling right. So I've kind of had that feeling again, writing these new songs and there was no pressure. There was no like time limit. And there's this excitement of just writing music again. So I really love them and I'm hoping everybody else is going to like them too. Speaker 3 (4:38) And listening to the new EP, I think it does pay homage a bit to that first album and the production and style. And I love the title track, Let's Go Far. Definitely inspirational. I love all the fun stops and Speaker 1 (4:52) the chorus, too. I Speaker 3 (4:54) think it's a track everyone will love. That one's already out. And this is Let's Go Far, Volume 1. Will we expect a volume two as well? Speaker 1 (5:05) Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. I'm actually up. That's one of the reasons I'm up here, finishing up some more music and trying to navigate my way through those. Speaker 1 (5:17) Uh, everything, I just, everything sounded really good. Like, you know, how, how I want it. Like I said, there's just no pressure of, it needs to be done right here, right now. And, and, uh, you know, cause when you're on a major label, there's pressure to, you know, outperform what you did last time, which you want to do, but sometimes there's a time limit on it. And that's, you know, sometimes that's not always the best, but, uh, um, you know, there is definitely going to be a volume two and, uh, you know, there's. a song called Remember Me coming out this week. And then there'll be another song called Boys and Dads on there that I really love. And another one called My Dark Places. So I don't know. I really love these songs. I'll be curious what people think about them. And if they hate them, they can just tell me. But if they love them, they can also tell me that. I think it's a Speaker 3 (6:04) great collection of songs. So did you record these songs in Nashville? Speaker 1 (6:09) Yeah, yeah. So I used to do a lot of work up in L.A. and New York, and it was great for that time. But, you know, I'm just a boy from South Georgia. I don't like, you know, when everything starts to move around too quickly, I get a little overwhelmed. So, you know, once I started working up here in Nashville, I don't know, eight, ten years ago or something, Speaker 1 (6:31) I fell in love with it. It still has that small town kind of feel, but the big city things that you need. I can write at home and finish songs