And The Award Goes To: Phil Roy

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Album Cover, In The Weird Small Hours © Michael T Regan Photography 2009

The 9th annual Independent Music Awards were released this week and Phil Roy's "In The Weird Small Hours" won concept album of the year. Inspired by Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours," Phil covered Radiohead, Elliot Smith, Conor Oberst, Eels and other influential artists. I've written about my collaborations with Phil before. However, I feel the need to add something: He did it himself. No label backed him, no contract forced him, no radio station promoted him, no publicist announced him and no magazine/newspaper wrote about the album. Whether you like the music or not, its wonderful to see an individual tackle the artistic and financial mountains alone...and come away with some much deserved recognition. So buy the album here and give Phil a call. He doesn't facebook, tweet, IM, blog, chat, or text. He takes phone calls. And his number will soon be listed on his website along with his hours of availability. Thanks Phil for trusting me to conceive the album art, shoot film with my Leica, edit the contacts and design the photo layouts. I forgive you for yelling at me when I touched your guitar at 3am after a long shoot. More about the IMA's:

"The Winners in more than 50 album, song, music video and design categories culled from thousands of submissions from around the globe, were determined by a panel of 80 influential artists and industry pros including Tom Waits, The Black Keys, Ricky Skaggs, Pete Wentz, Mark Hoppus, Aimee Mann, The Apples in Stereo, David Garrett, Suzanne Vega, Bettye LaVette, Judy Collins, Zooey Deschanel and
M. Ward."

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