Over the last 30 years, Sam Phillips has had one of the more unusual and varied careers in what can broadly be called pop music. Her first success came in the early ’80s via contemporary Christian music, under the name Leslie Phillips; she was, regrettably, marketed as “the Christian Cyndi Lauper.” Flash forward to 2013, and the alternative Lauper-less sounding artist is self-issuing Push Any Button, her first physical release of new material in seven years. It’s not a radical change in style, but it’s livelier and more fun than anything she’s done since her Virgin era. Many of the 10 songs contain hints of that intersection of rockabilly and country that the other Sam Phillips made his name with, and some include almost countrypolitan string arrangements. Phillips will be guest editing on magnetmagazine.com all this week. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that her prose and reflections are just as interesting and evocative as her songwriting. Read our bran new feature on her.
Phillips: I like coffee, but I love tea—every kind of tea. I love to steep fresh mint leaves in hot water. Truly great tea isn’t always easy to find. In Los Angeles, there is the Chado Tea shop that carries an amazing variety of Darjeeling, Assam, green and herbal teas. I usually buy tea from Chado, but I recently found beautiful boxes of tea bags from French company Mariage Frères at Mohawk General Store in Silverlake. The cloth tea bags are pretty, and the subtle flavors of the French Breakfast tea and the Darjeeling Rose Camelia are my new favorites. For iced M.F. I like the Marco Polo tea. The one thing I learned about making a good cup of tea is not to make the water too hot. This can kill the subtle taste of some teas (and hurt your tongue!).
Video after the jump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ4eZJcxMRw
