Jerry Phillips – For The Universe [LP]

The myriad of stars that aligned to create Jerry Phillips’ debut solo album, For The Universe, have been orbiting the rarified atmosphere of Memphis’ Sam Phillips Recording Service-the namesake studio that Jerry’s father built in the wake of his Sun Records success with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis-since it’s doors opened in 1960. The fact that it took 64 years for those stars to fully align is more a testament to Jerry’s own unwavering path than it is being the son of the man who unleashed rock ‘n’ roll on the world. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when the studio acquired the original Spectra Sonics console from Stax Studio B, which had captured soul classics like Rufus Thomas’ “The Funky Chicken” and much of the Isaac Hayes catalog. “Jerry said, ‘I want to be the first person to record on the Stax console at Phillips.'” When it came time for the “shakedown session,” Album coproducer Scott Bomar remembe