Midwestern School of Music

11/28/2023

New collaboration with Richard M. Phalen (yep, that's my dad) out now on streaming services worldwide.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3tl0VnxNr5FAHMGrfo7z6S?si=xCAUF6IfRAeQ7_ggiJ9FJQ

I couldn't be more pleased to share this new track from my father, Richard M. Phalen. While he's been making music his entire life, 'Home Soon' marks his debut as a recording artist and his very first original composition to see global distribution.

Since my dad was the one who helped nurture my love for music and has supported my path as an artist all these years, it was an immense pleasure to help him record this song and to now be able to share it with all of you.

'Home Soon' is just the first single from a set of tracks we recorded at Chicago's magnificent Electrical Audio Studio A. It was like a dream to work there and to be supported by all the close friends who helped to bring this project to life, including:

Chris Anderson - Guitar
Jamie Gallagher - Drums
Brian Morrissey - Guitar
Brian D Murphy - Backing Vocals
Dan Ingenthron - Piano, Organ

Gregoire Yeche - Audio Engineer
Miyu Morita - Assistant Engineer

Marcia Gorra - Cover Art
Samantha Sanders - Photography
Janet O'Mahony - Vocal Coaching

I played bass, sang backups and produced the track.

We cannot express how grateful we are to work with all of these uniquely talented artists and technicians. I hope you enjoy listening to 'Home Soon' as much as we enjoyed making it. More to come soon! Availble now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

Richard M Phalen · Single · 2023 · 1 songs

08/05/2023

Duane Allman: I listen to Miles Davis (early Miles) and John Coltrane and Robert Johnson, Junior Wells, Muddy Waters; see, you get a goal in mind, a note that you want to hit with your band and then you gotta go out on the road and your spiritual battery runs down. You get home and you listen to that stuff and say “Ah, there it is, I have it before me, I know what to do” and you go out and do it.”
Featuring six tracks of overlapping guitar – Eric’s rhythm part; three tracks of Eric playing harmony with himself; one of Duane playing slide guitar; and one of Duane and Eric together, playing countermelodies – “Layla” was originally slated to be a ballad reflecting Clapton’s unrequited love for George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd until Duane got ahold of it, coming up with a guitar riff that Eric says was ‘pretty much a direct lift’ from an Albert King blues standard:

“He came up with this riff that was pretty much a direct lift from an Albert King song, ‘As The Years Go Passing By,’ from the Stax album Born Under a Bad Sign.

It’s a slow blues and there’s a line that goes, ‘There is nothing I can do, if you leave me here to cry,’ and we used that.”

Once Duane worked it out, “Layla” went from a mournful ballad to a blues soaked rock and roll classic, incorporating that gorgeous Southern rock sound with Clapton’s own blues oriented sound for one hell of a rock and roll classic. Sure, Eric absolutely crushed it years later when he turned “Layla” into an acoustic jam, but there’s nothing like the magical guitar interplay – or Duane’s iconic guitar solo – between these two friends that crafted the magic of the original!

- I love classic rock

Photo: Bobby Whitlock

07/18/2023

I love this story of friendship, generosity and collaboration, which gave birth to some of the most iconic instruments and recordings of all time...

Graham Nash was reunited with the Fender Stratocaster guitar called Alligator that he gifted to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

11/07/2022

We're very excited to be helping out with this youth music showcase tonight featuring four super talented up and coming Chicago bands. Presented by and

 

03/09/2022

We're very excited to hear some of high schoolers perform tomorrow night as we also welcome our talented friends from Interlochen Academy in Michigan. Hope you can join us for this special evening of music!

We are now requiring proof of vaccination with ID before entering our venue. Masks are always required when not eating or drinking. 

03/09/2022

A couple of the greats in their prime!

04/29/2021

"Within every creative person there is an inventor at odds with a museum curator, and most of the startling things that happen in music are the result of some momentary gain by one at the expense of the other. But the thing about Beethoven, in his case, the struggle between the curator and the inventor isn't tucked away or out of sight like the proverbial skeleton in the family closet. It is the very surface of the music, and Beethoven lets us see it happening as though he had no skeleton to hide."

Glenn Gould performs Beethoven’s "Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor op 31/2 - The Tempest“, at the classical music television series "Music For a Sunday Afterno...

03/15/2021

Science says: learn guitar!

Something magical happens to the brain when you pick up guitar playing. Here's why guitar players' brains are different from others'.

02/04/2021

I consider Willie Dixon to be the spiritual godfather of our school, and Chess Records aka Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation on South Michigan Avenue has become like a Mecca for our students, making many trips to the famed studio/museum over the last several years. Here's an amazing clip of Willie showing that he was as versatile and adventurous as any musician of the 20th century. Looking forward to getting back to Blues Heaven soon!

Willie Dixon Awasome Bass Playing

11/01/2020

https://youtu.be/wA_zsjHX4r8
I hope you'll join me for our first-ever Midwestern School of Music VIRTUAL Student Concert tonight, Sunday, November 1st at 6:15pm. If a global pandemic hasn't stopped these young musicians from making their art, then nothing will! I'm so proud of this group, their creativity and resilience.

We'll be doing a YouTube Premiere with a live chat so be there to help us cheer on our students in realtime!

10/30/2020

Updated Link: Virtual Student Concert 2020 premieres this Sunday 11/01 - https://mailchi.mp/c1ef574ac660/virtual-student-concert-new-link