"Phil Round is as much a model professional musician as anyone I know. He is fun and easy to play music with, always clear in what is required of his band, and is ultra-professional with everyone he works with. But what really comes across to the crowd is the fact that he's a great singer and musician and a very funny front man."
–Matt Flinner, virtuoso mandolinist and Nashville producer
What's new
September, 2011
Phil and the Snake River Band playing for a private birthday party
August 2011
Recently spent time at Ben Winship's Henhouse studio with Brent Moyer (Nashville guitarist/songwriter) and Ed Domer (Jackson Hole's premier percussionist) working on music for a documentary film about the Stagecoach Bar in Wilson.
The legend of the Stagecoach Band continues; 42 years of Sundays and still counting (why the counting, I don't know...).
I've just returned from an eight day artist resindency at the Ucross Foundation (www.ucrossfoundation.org). Very transformative time and quite the luxury in the hectic life of a musician/parent. Some inspiring folks there with me and I used the time to write some songs and finish up a couple that were in progress. Fantastic food, beautiful setting (22,000 acre former cattle ranch that is now intensively managed by the Ucross staff and largely protected by Nature Conservancy easements), and fantastic people. Hard to gauge how much we need uninterrupted time until we get it. I can't thank the Ucross Foundation enough for providing me with some space (the final frontier!).
I got to have dinner with Spencer and Marilyn Bohren and catch Spencer's show at the WYO Theater while in residency (they let you out sometimes), thanks to an invite from my old friend Nick Johnson who is now E.D. of the theater. Spencer is an amazingly warm and engaging guy (for a bluesman!) and a great practioner of everything blues and stringed. A Wyoming native who has spent the last 20 years or so in New Orleans, S.B. is a treasure trove of great roots music (many of his creation) and stories. Don't miss him if he performs near you.
Snow starting to pile up here in the Tetons. This is a fallow time for me (musically), but no lack of things going on here with kids in school and preparing for another NW Wyoming winter (more than 30 now!). I will put out a solo CD at some point here, as it's been too long since I've recorded. And even though I have a bias against all the recorded music being released these days by people who don't sound like that in real time and space, I need to join the fray again at some point. I promise to make an honest recording of where I'm at and who I am musically at the point in time that I record. This winter...?
JUNE 2, 2009
Well, it's morel mushroom hunting season in the Tetons. Not too promising yet, but we collected a few.
I recently performed (May 19th) at the debute of a new song ("What To Hold") written by my wife, Beth McIntosh, at a public event to bring attention to the demise of the white bark pine tree and it's devastating effect on the ecosystem's grizzly bears. Authors and outdoorsmen Doug Peacock ("Grizzly Years"), Jesse Logan and Tom Turiano ("Select Peaks of the Greater Yellowstone") all spoke eloquently about their recent experiences in the Yellowstone high country. WE NEED TO RE-LIST THE GRIZZLY BEAR. It should have never been taken off the endangered species list. Visit http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/ to learn about the issue and let your views be known.
The Snake River Band (a pared down version) will be performing for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition's annual meeting on June 13th at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. Great group and a very informative and fun weekend for anyone intersted in attending.
I'm about to start solo, acoustic performances again in the lobby of the Amangani hotel for the summer on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Please contact the Amangani (307-734-7333) or Snake River Music Agency (307-733-9641) to make sure that I'll be there on any particular night, as often there are substitutes if the Snake River Band is working that night. Occasionally I have sit-in musicians playing with me, so you never know what to expect. (I love those solo gigs with more than one musician!)
Playing with my buddies in the Derrik & The Dynamos band for the "Taste of idaho" celebration on June 18th in Idaho Falls. Don't have details, but information is on the web or in regional newspapers (there are still some left!).
Hope to see some of you this summer. Make the most of our economic recession and get out in the woods and mountains and fields and lakes and beaches. It doesn't have to cost anything!
APRIL 15, 2009
My Face! That's what's new. I'm completely clean-shaven for the first time in about 34 years. As one of my brother's commented, it looks like my upper lip is going through isostatic rebound (for all you geologists out there). Not sure how it will affect my playing or singing. It's traumatized my family a bit, however.
Slack key master Paul Togioka (www.paultogioka.com) and me in Kaua'i, trying out my new face.
Just got back from three weeks on the island of Kaua'i, where Beth and I played a gig in Kapa'a and I sold the rights for the use of an istrumental tune I wrote last year while on the Big Island of Hawai'i. A slack key (esque) piece entitled "All's Swell." While staying on Kaua'i, I went to a workshop led by Paul Togioka, a terrific, Grammy nominated slack key guitarist. He attempted to correct me in my haole ways and teach me some more authentic, Hawaiian guitar styles. (Working on the arm-over-the-neck technique, Paul...) Playing in open C6 tuning is like learning a new instrument.
Slow time of year, but I have my private students and the Sunday night gigs with the (in)famous Stagecoach Band. Awaiting the melting of the snow, but there's still some great skiing as the mountains around here got over 8 feet of snow since I left at the beginning of April! Summer will come, I'm sure, and with it lots of interesting new music opportunities.
Congratulations to my friends Anne and Pete Sibley in winning Garrison Keillor's competition for musical duos on Prairie Home Companion in mid-April. (www.anneandpetesibley.com) Great PR and they deserve it.
Thanks for visiting philround.com. In these pages you'll find information about my performing history, my schedule of performances, the Snake River Band and . I'm looking forward to hearing from associates, fellow musicians, clients, friends and family.
After more than 20 years of extensive touring, I now perform primarily in the northern Rockies area around my home town of Jackson Hole , WY. When not performing i enjoy family life in the mountains with my singer/songwriter wife, , and my two sons, Wilden and Rainer.
Playing music for people is what I love to do and I feel fortunate to do it for appreciative clients in and around this special part of the country, known as The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I also teach private guitar, voice, and music lessons to interested individuals in the region.
I'll try and update this page with musical happenings in my life and with The Snake River Band. I look forward to performing live music for you next time you find yourself anywhere in the vicinity of the Greater Yellowstone region.
–Phil
Snowed in at 9,200 feet and 5 miles from the nearest road in the Absoroka Mountains of northern Wyoming, Phil plays cowboy tunes with George King, manager of Brooks Lake Lodge.
Nothing like jammin' with friends...
Phil with son Wilden performing with the "legendary" Stagecoach Band in Wilson. Christine Langdon plays bass in background.
Phil performs as a soloist regularly in Jackson Hole at the Amangani hotel.
Call (307) 734-7333 for his schedule.
Phil experiencing the acoustics of Blacktail Canyon, as the musician on a 22 day, Grand Canyon Dories trip.
Performing recently at a wedding ceremony in Grand Teton National Park.
Phil and his sons (Rainer and Wilden) in Chamonix, France during a three month odyssey in western Europe with the family this past Spring.
