Meet Phil Keaggy, guitarist for Cosmic Cathedral

By Bob Keeley

Who is this guy playing guitar in Cosmic Cathedral?

Cosmic Cathedral is the new band featuring Neal Morse, Chester Thompson, Byron House and guitarist/singer Phil Keaggy. While some who follow Neal’s music are familiar with Phil Keaggy, it might be time most prog fans have heard of him. I first heard about Phil when I was a college student in 1975 or so and have been a fan of his ever since. Keaggy’s discography contains a wide range of styles from straight ahead rock to solo fingerstyle guitar to a piece with an orchestra to playing with a band. He has both vocal and instrumental albums and has worked by himself and has collaborated with many others along the way. There is a lot to wrap your head around – well over 80 albums – and if you don’t know his stuff it might be hard to know where to start.

So, as a way to introduce prog fans to Phil’s music, here are five albums to check out that cover a lot (but by no means all) of his range.

1. Glass Harp Live! At Carnegie Hall by Glass Harp (recorded 1971, released 1997)
Phil’s got his start playing in Glass Harp, a trio from Ohio. Their only live album from those days happened when they opened for the Kinks at the legendary Carnegie Hall For some reason, they never released the album at the time. Phil left the band within a year or two of the recording. This album gives a glimpse into what Glass harp sounded like and a little insight into Phil’s improvisations in concert, which are pretty spectacular.

2. Beyond Nature by Phil Keaggy (1991)
Phil went on to have a solo career in Christian music and his label at first was skeptical of instrumental albums. (They asked, “how can it be a Christian album if there are no words?”) But Phil showed them with a pair of early albums that sold well and showed his talent writing instrumentals. Of all Phil’s many instrumental albums, Beyond Nature has remained a favorite over the years. It is based on reflections on the life and writings of C.S.Lewis but the interplay between acoustic fingerstyle guitar and the other instrumentalists is just beautiful.

3. Crimson and Blue by Phil Keaggy (1993)
After releasing one of his mellowest albums to date with Beyond Nature, Phil made one of his hardest rocking albums ever, a nod to 60s and 70s bands like The Beatles, Cream, with Crimson and Blue. Using his drummer from Glass Harp and a few other players, he let loose let he had not done before on any of his releases.

4. Live From Kegworth Studio (2011)
By the mid 90s, Phil’s concerts were almost always just him and his guitar. He became one of the earliest players who was very adept at looping and used it to great effect. People were always asking him for an album like what they just heard in his shows and there wasn’t one, so he recorded this “live” album at home in his studio. It serves as a good indication of what you’ll get if you see Phil live on his own. It sounds like there is more than one player or overdubbing, but there isn’t. Phil does this all on his own.

5. Spinning on a Cosmic Dime by Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy (2024)
This is one of Phil’s most recent albums, his fifth with Jeff Johnson, a keyboard player who creates meditative instrumental albums. They usually find a theme of some sort and create beautiful soundscapes based on that theme.

Pre-order Cosmic Cathedral – Deep Water, out on April 25th, here: https://cosmiccathedral.lnk.to/DeepWater-Album

The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. The Heart Of Life 00:13:35
2. Time To Fly 00:06:53
3. I Won’t Make It 00:03:55
4. Walking In Daylight 00:08:56
5. Deep Water Suite I: Introduction 00:03:03
6. Deep Water Suite II: Launch Out, Pt. One 00:04:37
7. Deep Water Suite III: Fires Of The Sunrise 00:04:04
8. Deep Water Suite IV: Storm Surface 00:02:40
9. Deep Water Suite V: Nightmare In Paradise 00:06:58
10. Deep Water Suite VI: Launch Out, Pt. Two 00:01:51
11. Deep Water Suite VII: New Revelation 00:05:15
12. Deep Water Suite VIII: Launch Out, Pt. Three 00:01:48
13. Deep Water Suite IX: The Door To Heaven 00:07:51