The country blues players have been both an inspiration and an example but I don't think of myself as being a blues player. I think when I first set the guitar on my lap and started playing slide, I toyed with the idea that I would play blues music. After a while, however, it just became more and more obvious that blues was just a set of sounds and emotions that I identified with and wanted to include in what I did. The fact is that from the first time I picked up a guitar, I never considered playing in a style. I just wanted to find the music.
Kelly Joe Phelps interviewed by Philip Van Vleck in Dirty Linen magazine

 
Our winter season starts off with a concert not to be missed -- Rykodisc recording artist Kelly Joe Phelps. A musician since childhood, Kelly Joe has been influenced by everyone from Chet Atkins and Mississippi Fred McDowell to Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Whether he's playing traditional blues or soaring into something unclassifiable, his passion and prowess won't fail to move you.

A critic has likened Kelly Joe's latest CD, "Shine Eyed Mister Zen," to visiting "a place that improvising musicians are constantly seeking, a place where only the music exists, where the world has vanished." According to U2's The Edge, "Kelly Joe Phelps is a great example of what the modern blues is all about." His earlier release, "Roll Away the Stone," was rated the acoustic blues album of the year by Blues Revue magazine.