Stacy Phillips (1944-2018)
Stacy was a founding member of the group and was a self-taught, internationally acclaimed resonator (slide) guitarist and violin player. He performed with Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, Leon Redbone, Judy Collins, Peter Rowan, and many other of the top acoustic musicians in the world. Stacy has three solo albums and is featured artist on the Grammy award-winning album The Great Dobro Sessions. He has been called "one of the hottest pickers around" (Guitar Player magazine), "a totally fluid, totally present practitioner of American roots musics" (The Klezmer Shack on-line reviews) and "a resonator guitar virtuoso . . . stretching the stylistic limits of his instrument" (Dirtly Linen magazine).
Stacy was the author of more than 25 books and DVD's on various aspects of his chosen instruments, including "The Klezmer Collection" and "Easy Klezmer Tunes". They are seen in the music rooms of the world's best string players.
Stacy died on Tuesday, June 5 around 9:30. He was 74 years old. On Sunday of that week he had just left an Afro-Semitic Experience concert and was on his way to a bluegrass performance when he experienced a massive heart attack and from then on it was just a matter of time. He was surrounded by his family, his sister and his niece and nephew. Stacy was his own person and that was reflected in the life he led as a musician. We traveled the world with him. We traveled the United States with him. We shared meals together and bandstands together. We heard the same jokes from him over and over and we laughed every time. It is hard to believe he is dead. We would say more about Stacy, but others have already said it better. There is a great obituary about Stacy in the New Haven Independent.
On Sunday, June 10, we participated in a musical memorial for Stacy at Café 9 in New Haven. We were joined by so many other musicians, bands, students, and fans who all paid tribute to him. There’s a great article about that event in the New Haven Independent.
Zichronoh l’vrachah May his memory be a blessing
