K was born in San Angelo and grew up in the Concho Valley area of West Texas. K went to high school in Corpus Christi, and high tailed it to New Braunfels as quickly as he could so he could immerse himself in the local music scene while attending Texas Luthern University. Robert Earl Keen was among the more powerful musical influences on K as he was growing up, but he became familiar with the "next gen" locals (at the time) including Stoney LaRue and Ryan Bingham, and his love for music and songwriting exploded! K was frequently sited performing with other local favorites Daniel Thomas Phipps, Little Brave, Luke Leverett, Brandy Zdan and more. K performed both as a solo act and with with a band as K Phillips and the Concho Pearls, which grew into a HUGE favorite of both Music of New Braunfels as well as thousands if not zillions of fans. K told me if it weren't for the strong music scene in New Braunfels and venues like Gruene Hall, Saengerhalle and others, he probably wouldn't be a full time musician today.
K started going to The Outlaw Roadshow in 2012, and was surprised in October 2014 that his own "Kat's Song" had been selected into a set list by Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows. That is one of those HUGE, life changing moments in his life that he almost missed, because he had a gig across town at the same time, but was urged by his friend Nakia who was playing keys during that set to "stick around because this is gonna be cool". Reluctantly, he stuck around to watch his friend play with The Counting Crows, then he heard a familiar keyboard riff that was followed up by some lyrics of his own! Adam pulled K up on stage with him to finish out the song.
K moved out to Nashville in 2015 to pursue other facets of his career, and although I've lost touch with some of his activities since then, I was not at all surprised K was getting this opportunity, because he truly is one of the great performing songwriters that was steeped in the Texas music scene.
K has played at Galleywinter's Greenfest numerous times, and he played a solo set at the @musicofnb/TX Citizen 3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival at Freiheit Country Store back in January 2015. Below are a FEW samples of K from his time here in Texas, plus a clip from The Outlaw Roadshow in NYC last year. A special thanks to Claire (clairvoyant94 on YouTube) for allowing us to use a clip from her video! I also threw in the Counting Crows performance of "Kat's Song" referenced above!
A sampling of K Phillips from recent years:
Blowin' Off Steamboat (video by Scott of River Man Productions):
Counting Crows performance of Kat's Song:
Clairvoyant94's full video of Kat's Song:
