Fifteen seconds into his forthcoming 2nd album, “Good to be Here,” Phillip-Michael sings “Toes pointed toward the road / Hard times picking at my bones” outlining the odds he’s facing before barreling into an anthemic chorus; “I couldn’t walk away if I tried / I’m gonna light up the Sky.” It reads like a mission statement, setting the tone for the album. When Phillip-Michael Scales moved to Chicago he immediately began cutting his teeth as a musician. In 2018 he played 308 gigs.
Phillip-Michael swears that “Chicago taught me how to hustle” which came in handy when he moved to Nashville and quickly found himself in rotation on the number one AAA radio station, Lightning 100.
From there he released his debut album “Sinner-Songwriter,” toured Europe, had a song on national radio, played the Ellen Degeneres show, and opened national tours for Keb’ Mo’ and Caravan Palace. Eventually, he caught the attention of Grammy-nominated producer, Dan Knobler (Lake Street Dive, Allison Russell, and Bahamas) who would team up with Scales on his latest Album, “Good to Be Here” (out April 25th).
Without a record label, strong financial backing, or a viral hit; commercial success as an artist is a mountain that very few people scale. Staying true to yourself and continuing to climb when plagued by false starts, setbacks, and crippling doubt is a much longer and lonelier path. Being self-managed for the majority of his career, he’s no stranger to 8-hour drives behind tour busses, prepping for shows in closets or stairwells, getting off big stages to immediately sell his own merch, or pouring through books to learn more about the business.
Perhaps that’s the reason his record feels like a modern take on Stax-era Soul where you could hear the blood, sweat, and tears of blue-collar artists singing their way to stardom. Scales also catalogs the mental aspects of the journey asking the kind of questions that keep you up at night. “Is this truly what you want? How are you getting in your own way?
Is it really worth the finite time away from the people you love?” Make no mistake, throughout the album, there is an undercurrent of hope and a sense that Scales is truly enjoying himself whether he’s finding love in “Can’t Get Enough” or getting his swagger
back in “Be My Own Man.” “Good to Be Here” is the narration of a person building their dream brick by brick and everything that comes with it. “I wouldn’t say that I’ve ‘arrived’ but when you’ve learned everything the hard way, you get more confident and enjoy the ride because you know that you got yourself here and it’s good to be here!”
*Fun Fact: B.B. King calling him “nephew” but that’s neither here nor there.
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