March 20, 2025 • 48 mins
La La… La La Laaaaaa! We all love the music that adds that special magic to the world of Stars Hollow.
Sam Phillips created them all and she is here!
Sam Phillips served as the composer for Gilmore Girls for all 7 seasons and she’s ready to let us in on all the juicy secrets
Follow @iamallinpodcast on Instagram and TikTok
Follow Scott Patterson on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am all in again. Oh, I guess you. I
Smell pop Culture with Easton Allen and I Heeart Radio
(00:21):
podcast Everybody, Easton Allen, I amil and Podcasts one of
them productions. iHeart radio, iHeart Media, iHeart podcasts. It's I
Smell pop Culture. I Smell pop culture. And you know
what we're doing this week, everybody, we are hearing pop
culture too. We're incorporating another sense besides smell. Here's the
thing about this podcast. If you're just joining us for
(00:42):
the first time. My name is Easton and I have
been appointed by our Lord and Savior Scott Patterson, to
go through the pop culture references in Gilmore Girls and
dive deeper, talk to the people that created them, that
are them, that make these little moments, these permanent fixtures
(01:05):
of pop culture in our world. We're doing something a
little different this week. We're not really exploring a pop
culture reference. We're going bigger, baby, we got we got
no limits here. Where the sky is the limit for
what we're doing. Here's the thing with Gilmore Girls. When
you're watching Gilmore Girls, you'll hear these little moments, these
(01:26):
little musical pieces. An acoustic guitar, maybe a la la,
these little moments that set the mood in such a
perfect way. And I know what you're thinking. You're watching
this going like wow, this is These are such magical
little nuggets. Where did these come from? Who created these?
Did they just come out of the air?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
No, No, A person created these, A person just like
you and I, A person with a beating heart created
these little moments. And that is Sam Phillips. She is
an incredible musician. She's a in our artists, a soul artist.
She's released a bunch of records, She's Grammy nominated. But
the reason we're talking to her is because she is
(02:08):
the composer for all seven seasons of Gilmart Girls, including
the revival. She also worked on Bunheads, Marvelous, Missus Masel,
She worked on that beautiful Walmart commercial that we love
from the holidays. Sam Phillips is the leader of everything
musical in the world of Gilmar Girls. She composed all
those incredible musical cues and those that score that we
(02:31):
love so much. And we're going to talk to her today.
We're going to find out what inspired those things. How
do you put it together? How do you score a
TV show like Gilmore girls, like, how does that work?
We're going to ask all those questions and we're going
to ask so much more and Sam Phillips is here
with us. Thank you so much for doing this. We're
so excited.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Aston. That's such a lovely intro. Thank you, thank you
for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you know we're going to talk a lot about
Gilmart girls obviously, but before we get into that, I
like going back to the beginning. I want to hear
the origin story of Sam Phillips. Did you grow up
in Glendale, California? Is that right? I did, not far
from where I sit right now. Glendale's a Beatle Yeah,
I'm in Burbank, the gem city Glendale. When did you
(03:16):
realize that you loved music? What point did that happen
for you?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think I was three? Yeah, yeah, I remember the
Beatles at three?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Was there a song that caught you? Caught your ear?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I wasn't allowed to touch the record player, so I
there was a single.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I think it was I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And I made my older brother or my mom or
my whoever was around, I made them play again again.
I play it on the record player. So yeah, it
was it was early on. But you know, it's interesting
with musical, all the musical influences. A lot of people say, well,
what you grew up listening to?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Would you? And I feel like that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You it's you've taken so much as a kid. You know,
you're listening to commercials on TV. You're listening to kid music.
You know a lot of people the Disney Channel or
whatever I was there was the Sherman Brothers when I
was growing up, to all the Disney movies, you know,
and so you just you get all these bits and
pieces as well as classical music or jazz music, whatever
your parents are playing around the house or on the radio.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, you know, it all blends together to create the
styles we love. I'm always so curious, like when people
become musicians themselves, like what what is that spark that
makes you go, I could do this. I want to
make my own like like I want to write songs.
Do you remember when you wrote your first song?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I do.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I was about fourteen when I wrote my first song,
and I you know, this sounds terrible, but I think
that I got the courage because there were people that
I thought, well, they aren't that great. I could I
guess probably do like get close to that level, you know,
but alas my I don't know if my singing chops
(04:58):
ever got to a su perior level. I, you know,
seem to have a very specific as Amy Sherman Palladino
would say, I have a very specific voice, and it's
you know, it is what it is. But sometimes the
songwriter and me gets very frustrated with the singer. You know,
that the singer can't perform all the things that the
(05:18):
songwriter would like her to do.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Interesting, Yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way, that
that personality over here. Yeah. So you released four albums
as a as a Christian pop artist, and then you
switch to mainstream in nineteen eighty eight with the Indescribable
Wow and One album. But I want to something stood
out to me about the credits on that album is
(05:41):
Van Dyke Parks did some of the arrangements. I'm I'm
a huge Beach Boys Brian Wilson fans. That was really
exciting to learn. Yes, what was that like that?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Well, Vandyke is one of the most lovely and one
of the funniest. It's it's like when when he came
to play on my record, we would you know anything.
He is always the host, he is always the cruise director.
He's always been funny and this you know, and I
have to say and all love the strangest person in
the room. So that was fantastic. But I actually had
(06:12):
the chance to work with Brian Wilson a long time ago.
There was a record called Trios, and the bass player
for The Grateful Dead at the time was doing it
was a combination. He was a bass player, so he
would he and then two other guests would collaborate on
a song and then they would record the song. And
(06:35):
I didn't get a chance to record the song, but
I did write a song with Brian Wilson, but his
daughter sang with him for the very first time ever
on sang my song, and I wrote it was quite
a crazy experience and a great thrill and so lovely
to see father and daughter, you know, sing for the
(06:56):
first time together.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's pretty cool. That is magical. Wow, what is you're
part of?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Van Dyke was not there unfortunately, because I mean, just
to have Van Dyke anywhere all the time is a
great thing.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So at that point in your career, what was like
when you make that switch? What like were there are
new sounds you wanted to explore musically, Like, what what
did you want to do at that point?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Are you talking about from the Christian Yeah? Yeah, that
is a this is a very involved story and I
think there's going to be a book at some point.
All right, Really it's a it's a crazy story. But
and and so many interesting experiences and you know, so
many great people and then a lot of nutty people and.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Crazy people not so great people.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I wanted to Uh yes, I wanted to move
on artistically. Wanted to be able to express a lot
of things artistically, and so I I just went to
a different label. It was basically changing and not really
starting over necessarily, but exploring some different ways of writing
(08:06):
songs and recording.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
And you know, it was just it was growing. It
was growth.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And U I mean speaking of growth. Nineteen ninety five,
you have an acting role and I heard with a Vengeance.
I thought that that jumped out of me. I thought
that was so cool. What did you enjoy that? Was
that something you had fun doing? I did.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I loved crew. I thought the crew were fantastic. One
of the crew had a potato gun shooter thing that
we would shoot it. I think it got close to
Bruce Willis's trailer.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm not sure. Well, yeah, but yes, it was lovely.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Jeremy Irons was wonderful, and yes it was a weird experience.
But I basically was in my trailer a lot writing
songs because I didn't have any lines. I was a
mute arrest who's I had been blown up or something
my throat, my vocal cords were detached, I don't know,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Wow. So some of this, like, if you listen to
a Sam Phillips song, there's a chance that you wrote
it in the trailer on the set of Diehard of
the Vengeance? Is that Is that right?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
That? Yes, that could be. It might have been.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Like there's a song called Animals on Wheels that was
on a record that I.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Did in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That that I think that was written in the trailer.
There are probably, yeah, a few others. I don't remember offhand.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
How'd you get put in front of the camera? Like,
how did you get that part? I'm so curious.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Well, I think that I had a record out called
Martinez and Bikinis in nineteen ninety four, and apparently the
director saw the cover of that and thought I looked
like a terrorist.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean, what better compliment, seriously, the highest praise, like
a terrorist get her in here? And I was very
really Initially they wanted either they were trying to decide
between I was a mute and or I had a
German accent. And I'm so relieved that I was a
mute because I really, you.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Know, that was a lot to take on for a
non actor, for just a you know, a songwriter and
a singer person.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I love it so much. Sam Phillips is with us
from the composer of Gilmore Girls, and we're going to
take a visit to stars Hollow here on the IML
on podcast. We're going to take a quick break before
we do that. We'll be right back everybody. It's the
(10:25):
IML and podcast. I Smell pop Culture. My name is
Easton Allen. We are sitting here with Sam Phillips, the
composer of Gilmore Girls, all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls.
I mean, the mark you leave on that show is indelible.
It's one of like the music you wrote. Every Gilmore
Girls fan hums it on a daily basis. I know
(10:46):
this to be a fact. How did you get involved
with gilmore Girls. How did that partnership begin?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
By default, I would say Valadino met with her. I
think initially she told me she wanted Carol King to
do the score and the theme song. But Carol My
understanding of the story was that Carol did not want
to do the score, She just wanted to do the
theme song. So for some reason, I think Amy had
(11:15):
come to one of my shows in Los Angeles and
she we met and we just kind of had to
hammer it out, you know, because she was saying she
wanted she wanted me to write these little pieces of music,
but wanted me to use my voice, and so I
tried writing some lyrics and that, you know, with the
really funny and.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Rapid fire dialogue. Obviously that wasn't going to work. So
I started I kind of went back to one of
my idols, and Harry Nilssen, the great Harry Nilson, who
had done I think he'd done a score in the
sixties when I was a kid of a TV show
and he did a lot of background vocals, and so
I just started doing that and little melodies that I
(11:57):
had had been working on, I kind of I just
took them into gilmore Land and Amy had said, I
want this score to be or your voice to be
the voice inside Laurla and Rory's heads.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Which is a very interesting concept.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
And I love Amy and Dan Palladino and you know,
for being so they love music so much, and I
really appreciated that they knew a lot of music and
that they wanted to do something very different and experimental,
because I think at the time their network was connected
to Warner Brothers record Company, and there was a lot
(12:36):
of push it, like, you know, just play our new music,
you know, all the way through, just you know, from
start to finish, because that was done a lot, you know,
and it's still done a lot where there's music just
through everything.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
But I kept saying, you.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Know what, let's just maybe take a break because we
want you know, there's that great dialogue and just some breaths,
not music throughout the whole thing. So then there are
these little mini you know, songs. But it's interesting, it's
I never would have thought that people would have listened
to it. I in fact, I know one of my
(13:08):
friends because the Gum Girls in the beginning, you know,
was had been classified as a chick show by many guys,
and one of my friend's husbands said, you know, what
is that? Like she was watching Gimbore Girls one time
and he said, from the other room, what is that?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Terrible lala music? What is that? That was me, so
I didn't know if.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, it's again it's a specific thing, and I'm I'm
glad that people did embrace it and it wasn't annoying.
I certainly didn't mean it to be that way, but
I just had so much fun doing those you know,
those cues, those little music interludes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I mean, in terms of it be annoying, I could
not disagree more. I think that is like it's it.
Every one of those cues sets the mood so perfectly
and feels so it's so unique and distinct to go
more girls, And that's something that I don't think you
don't get that with so many television shows or movies
for that matter. When you were like figuring out the
(14:11):
sound and what this was going to be, I mean,
you know, I know you got these notes like you
wanted to be the voice inside their heads and things
like that, but like, I'm just curious how you, like,
did you try a bunch of different styles, different instruments,
like what was the experimentation process like trying to find
that kind of lane.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well, it was interesting because I think that there was
some kind of connection in the very beginning of what
because I had done pop records, you know, in the
nineties and at that point, right at that point, I
had had my own kid and I just made it.
I just kind of pivoted to something that was much
more stripped down, and I was working in that less production,
(14:56):
I guess, and also at that time, working with my
producer at the time, was was doing a lot of
kind of country or Americana music, and so I think
we tried mandolin at one point, and you know they
were just like no, no, not country, you know, and guitars,
(15:17):
and I was very working with acoustic instruments, not really
working with a lot of you know, electronic instruments at
that time, and so that was kind of the that
was my world at the time, and I just proceeded
to do that and and just make it very simple
and that that seemed to work, even even trying to
I tried to put some strings on it, you know
(15:38):
a little bit, and that seemed to be you know, no, no, no,
too dark, too heavy. So you know, there wasn't a
ton of experimentation. I didn't try to, you know, bring
in like a lot of synthesizers or anything.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
You know, it wasn't or drum machines.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So it was pretty straightforward what I was into, what
I was doing at the time, and I was making
still making records at the time or for None Such
the Non Such label, So it was it was an
interesting time. I just was working a lot, you know,
composing a lot and singing a lot, and it was
really fun. And I'm so glad that that happened to
be what resonated with Amy.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I know that you were like you had your own
like music career going out at the same time, And
I was thinking about that this morning, going like, how
do you That must have been wild, because like you
have I imagine the Gilmore Girls production, Like when you're in production,
you're just working NonStop on that, and then you have
to find time to like go home and like, oh
(16:38):
I will I want to write my own stuff, or
you have maybe you want to go on tour or
something like that. Was it hard to balance those two careers?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, not really a little bit of the scheduling. Yeah,
sometimes the scheduling. But but it's sort of like you know,
when you're I think the more you work, the more
you work. And I think it was a really great productive,
creative time and I did. I did have a setup
at home, which was a lifesaver because I think it
you know, that would have been harder to have to
(17:07):
go into the studio all the time, you know, so
I was able to that made it a little bit
more convenient. But it was really wonderful and I and
luckily those one fed off the other, you know, there
were you know, I felt the main thing I was
trying to do. I was trying to write melodies that
would really go to picture, which I found very difficult.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It was really especially you know, especially with comedy.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think when you're doing like action movies or suspense,
you know, or very serious you know movies or television shows,
I think it's so easy to be dark, you know,
it's really you could just you know, that's to me,
that's a lot easier than some of the lighter moments,
you know, So it was a challenge.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I wasn't used to.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I was a little bit more serious, you know, in
some of my music, so to making it lighthearted I
tried to just use the melodies the best I could
because I didn't quite know how to go about that,
but you know did and she was there to guide me.
And I have to say she in the beginning, in
the first spotting sessions, which is where you find, you know,
spots for music you watch the show, and she was
(18:12):
there at all of them. I love that to guide me,
and of course was just we laughed a lot. She
was so funny and so great to work with, and
I was lucky to have her because you know, I
mean she was the showrunner, you know, the executive producer,
the writer, the creator, she was doing everything, and I
(18:33):
respected that she wanted to shape her show, you know,
she wanted to be involved in all the different aspects
of it and wanted to have a lot of women
on the crew, you know, which is that's pretty unusual.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
There aren't.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I mean, there are more women composers now, but maybe
not as many then, you know, so I really respect
that and it was great to be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
A part of it.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I mean, there's so much really about Amy Sherman Paladino,
and like I mean, hearing all this is just so
exciting because it's like things that I always kind of
thought and then hearing you say it, you're confirming it
is awesome. But doing this podcast and like we explore
like the pop culture references on the on the show
through these episodes, and I've come to like kind of
(19:22):
figure out what the music that Amy likes, like you know,
like B fifty two's xCC stuff like that. There was
there a lot of her like personal tastes that kind
of like came through in the score. Was there like
times where you'd be in those sessions and she'd be like, oh,
we should do something like this band would do or
did she kind of give you ultimate freedom?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
No, she gave me ultimate freedom.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And she said at the end that and it's you know,
made me tear up. She I think her at the
very end when she stepped off the show, she just said,
thank you so much for all these little masterpieces that
you created and meant so much to me.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Because you know.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Amy's you know, she's a she's a tough guy too,
and but I I know she she and protected me.
She protected me from a lot of the notes. Maybe
that the network had they there could have been somebody
that went that lady stinks, get her off of it,
you know, stop that person from you know, doing the score.
But I don't know, I'll never know, because Amy wanted
(20:25):
me to do it, and I didn't get notes.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I just kept going.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, of course, you know, she would say maybe,
like I said before, you know, maybe that's too heavy,
maybe you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Something light or something different.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
But but I think again, I think that she the melodies.
I think somehow, you know, resonated. So I just I
feel lucky that we were, that we connected in that
way and were able to work together, because that just
doesn't always happen. And again, you know, I always have
a director or you know, an EP that loves music
or knows music, and a lot of I agree with
(20:57):
her tastes, you know, sparks and.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You know a lot of the XDC.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I mean, we you know, talked about that in the
beginning too, because when I the funny part was when
I came in to talk to her about doing the
score of the show. I just said, aiming, I haven't
really watched TV in a decade, like.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I've been on the road, I don't.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
At the time, I was like, I've watched movies, but
I the last I think, like the last television show
I was really watching was Twin Peaks.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I just have no I don't know what you know,
what a normal score is. So that's the other part
of it.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I just kind of came into it kind of very blind,
you know, because and somehow it worked.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So, I mean, I love it, and to me it
makes so much sense of why it's like so unique
and distinct. Is like you weren't trying to emulate something else,
You're just creating something so organic. I love it. It's beautiful.
Uh So that was I mean, Gummar Girls, is your
first time scoring something? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yes? Wow, yeah, I never thought I would ever do that.
So and I'm glad that.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
She took a chance again because it's you know, it
was it was odd. But they also though they had
tempted in some things that were kind of that gave
me clues, you know. That's always the interesting thing within
the pilot. They had tempted in different you know, uh,
musical moments that I thought, oh, okay, I could I
think I can do that in a different way, So
(22:24):
that that was.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
A little bit of a clue.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
But I really had to go, you know, step by
step and episode by episode, which was great and I
actually probably missed a lot of those cultural references because
I was so focused on doing the music. I heard
the dialogue, but I've since you know, been able to
watch and see more of the you know, the genius.
They had so many great writers coming through their writer
room during the series and it you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Still amazed that it's that people are still love it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
You know, it's it's kind of crazy but not yeah, right, wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah. I really love her writing and love the show
that she created.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
We're so lucky to live in a in a Gilmore
Girls universe. It's it's just the best. Uh, forgive, forgive
my ignorance. I'm I'm so naive when it comes to
the process of scoring something Like when I think about it,
I always picture those like you know when you see
those like behind the scenes thing of like John Williams
and the big and they have the movie on the
(23:23):
big screen. You know, I'm curious, like what can you
take me through? Like like a typical Gilmore Girls episode,
But like where how does it start for you?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
How?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
What's the process?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Like we would we would watch the episode, watch it
with Amy and and and sometimes the director.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I'm trying to remember what we did.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
But anyway, we had a crew of people that we
would watch it with and then and then usually Amy
would say I think music should be here, you know,
and and how about here?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
And sometimes I would say.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Oh, I think maybe music would be good here, and
then other times I would say, I don't know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Think there's music there. But so we would just go
through the whole show.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I would make notes, I would go home, and then
I would just take my guitar and sing.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
To the show.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
It was really basic, and I was not on a
computer with timecode or any of that kind of stuff.
Since you know, of course done that because it's you know,
that's what you sort of sort of have to do now.
I mean you can kind of spitball it, but not really.
But so that was basically the way to do it.
(24:33):
And I would try things and I would just you know,
run the spot again and again and again and see
what came to mind what I liked, and then I'd
go and record a bunch of cues with my engineer,
mikey and who has done all the Gilmore things, including
the revival and including the commercial that we did for
the holidays, which was pretty amazing to be able to
(24:57):
go back and do that with strengths they wanted to.
So I got to put you know, an orchestra on that,
which was really cool.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Oh my god. I mean I was going to ask
you if you because I know you came back for
the revival, but I was wondering if you were involved
with that commercial because that was like such a that
was so gilmore.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
They yet, well, they asked for my song how to
Dreamy and so without the lyrics, which was also in
the series as a cue without the lyrics, and so
I did that. But I got to put all these strings,
a lot of my friends, a lot of string players
on it, which was you know, so fun, so much
fun for me. And I thought that even though it
was only like you know, twenty seconds or whatever, with
(25:35):
thirty seconds, it was you know, a great thrill. And
that's that's the other thing about composing. It's so so
odd coming from songwriting and making records.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It's so odd to make things that.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Are so tiny, so small and quick, and you know,
fitting in these little spaces between you know, around dialogue
and between scenes. And it wasn't it was very that
was more complicated and difficult for me. But somehow we somehow.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
We did it in seasons. I don't know how we
did it.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Was it like writing these little cues and stuff and
not using any lyrics or or anything like that. Was
that challenging or was it did? Or was that easier
than like a typical songwriting.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Oh yeah, I'm more particular about lyrics, and so I'm
slower with lyrics. So I never There's no way I
could have been writing lyrics that fast for because you know,
we were airing every week twenty one episodes. I think
it was, you know, with some breaks in our schedule,
but it but I also felt that just the I
(26:41):
didn't need to do that because of the dialogue, I
didn't need any lyrics. But I also it did make
it more of a challenge to make that melody speak
to you know, the to to support the scene, to
speak to the mood of the scene.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
So it was it was a challenge. It was.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, it was difficult, but so much fun again, and
I just forged ahead. I don't know, I just I
just kept going. And I think there's something about it.
I have a friend who's a haircutter, and he always
does his best haircuts when he's in a hurry, like
when he's just like he doesn't have time, you know,
And it's so funny, and I felt like we were
just working, working, working. I think it was better not
(27:21):
to worry about it too much, not to get too
uptight about it, just to keep going, just to keep working,
keep you know.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Trying to just get it done.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I love it. I love it. Sam Phillips is with us.
This is the I Am all In Podcast. This is
I'm loving this. I'm just eating this up. This is
so cool and so fascinating. We have more questions for you.
We're going to be right back though. We're gonna hear
about some nice goods and services that you might want
to participate in. It is I smell pop culture. My
(27:56):
name is Easton Allen. I'm hanging out here with Sam Phillips,
the composer of Gilmart Girls, all seven seasons, the revival,
the Walmart commercial, you heard over the holidays. Sam is
just every musical moment that you loving Gilmart Girls. Sam's
fingerprints are all over. This is so much fun hanging out.
So when you're watched, like like scoring the show, I
(28:21):
mean I was thinking about that, like you said the
first part of the process is you sit down Amy
and you watch the show. It just struck me that,
like there's no music. There's no music like at that point,
right because you haven't written it yet, you haven't recorded anything,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Sometimes Amy would drop in a I mean she would
sometimes there were episodes she wrote where she had specific
songs already you know, they were already trying to license
some of the songs, either for a comedy bit you
know that, or just you know, she something she wanted
them to get to, you know, to put in there.
So she had very strong opinions about that, which are
(28:56):
great and has I think served her so well. She
and and Dan and Robin the music supervisor in Marvelous
Missus Maisel, I thought, did such a beautiful job with
the music, and they did mostly it really wasn't much score.
It was mostly just as they say, needle drops, you
know music because of the period, you know, time and
(29:17):
just so great a lot of Broadway and just loved it.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I just thought it was such a for younger viewers.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It was such a great education who people who didn't
know that era or didn't know a lot of those
different you know songs, even like Frank Sinatra or Barbara
Streiss and a lot of really cool stuff. But anyway, digressing,
but yeah, it was, Yeah, there wasn't any music, so
I just kind of had to do my thing, yeah,
(29:46):
to make it not be empty. But also I just
I didn't like, I don't like a lot of the
for maybe a dramedy like that, I don't love wald
while music. And at that point, I think I was
very stubborn about like a lot of times I would
just say, no, I don't think there should be music here.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, we need a breath, we need to we
need to breathe.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And so I that's a lot of times I think
that no music was was a good choice. And that's
kind of funny when you're a composer, you know, oh no, no,
no music.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
That's so interesting because that that, I mean, that's like instinct,
like you just have to know just go like what
feels right, and because like I would, you know, I
would want to go in there and just be like,
oh yeah, we'll just play something the whole way through.
But like, but like you said, the absence of music
has its place too and conserve a purpose.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, and Amy did that well too, because sometimes she
wanted music in spots we would try something and then
you know, she would take it out and we both
agree yeah, or or she would just you know, she
would have her way with the score. And again I
just think she was really really she's great at it.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
She's really good at it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
What was it like coming back for the revival after
you know, after not having done Go More Girls for
that long, that period of time, Uh, did you like
fall right back into the groove or what was that like?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah? And also it was it was really fun to
do that.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And I feel like we did because again I worked
with the same engineer, recording engineer, and and also it
Amy wanted some of the old cues in there, so
you know, we did have to re record some of
them for the revival, and and that was that was
interesting too to hit hit some of those notes, you know,
(31:37):
And I thought especially fun with the very first cue,
you know that we I got to do one of
the you know, one of the ones that and that
was another funny thing that Amy had cues that she
loved and she would choose them again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It was really it was great that we loved.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
There was one Q called music Box and she loved
it to just use it all the time. It just
was for some reason, and it was really descriptive of
of a lot of Gilmore moments.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
So I wish I could play it for you. There
was no vocal on it, so I can't sing it
for you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But anyway, would you say, like I mean, was there
a point where like something like music Box was in
like three episodes in a row or something like like
where they use that.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Did she have certain favorites that were that frequent? Really?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Sometimes maybe somebody would say, oh, we maybe used that before,
but you know, she had no shame.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Hey she's the boss.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
I loved it, and I think also, I'm sorry, but
the other thing that I have loved about, you know,
maybe growing up being a TV baby, and and also movies.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
I do like reoccurring.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Themes, and I think that that's you know, and not
in a funny way.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
There is a comforting thing to that too.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
There's I don't know, and I've heard that often that
a lot of people find Gilmore girls comforting. I mean,
it's certainly feels sometimes to me like it you know,
it's like a cup of coffee or you know, a
warm cup of tea, you know, Camma milt tea, whatever
you know, at the given moment, whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Is going on.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's funny, but it's also I think you really love
the characters and the town that she's created, and you
love spending time with them.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Absolutely. That's something I hear from people the most, is like, like,
there's so many people that I know they're like, oh,
I rewatch it every fall. That's like part of my
yearly tradition. And it feels it's so comforting. It's so
it feels like I'm visiting old friends. It's and I
think that's such a magic thing to be a part of, uh,
because you know how many shows can be are that
(33:40):
for people? I think if you ask people like what's
the most like what's your comfort show, Gimmrgirls has got
to be like number one, if not number number two
or something.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I hadn't really necessarily thought about it that way, but yeah,
it really is. And I don't know that that's the
way that you know, Amy started out thinking about it.
Maybe she was thinking more of like Twin Peaks but
sort of happy.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know, you know, like a cast.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Of characters in a town and intrigue. The intrigue is
really just if you know, where can you get the
good cup of coffee, rather than you know, somebody gets murdered.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
So that's okay with me. I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
One of the first times that I saw Lauren Graham,
actually not on my copy of the show, watching it
for music, was a little coffee shop near the Warner
Brothers lot. I went in to get a cup of
coffee and there she Lauren was walking out, and she
was dressed like Laura I, and she was had a
cup of coffee, and I just it was so weird
(34:40):
because I've just been watching her with a lot of coffee,
a lot of coffee, a lot of coffee cups. That
it was just it was wasn't sure if I was
in Stars Hollow or I was in Burbank, California.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So I'm curious too, Like there are so many people
that at watch Gilmart Girls as young people and hear
those musical cues that you wrote and you recorded and
probably I love thinking about this, Like they hear that
and go like, wow, this music is making me feel
such a specific way. I want to do something like this.
(35:17):
I want to start making music like and I know that,
like you, you started out as you know, just a
musician making your own songs, like you didn't necessarily dream
of being a composer, I'm sure when you were a kid.
But but did you do you remember like were there
specific like movies or TV shows where like the music
really stood out to you?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Again, you know, it's a little harder because everything just
kind of went in As a kid, I wasn't, I think,
you know, as I got older, I think that I
would music would stand out to me sometimes if it
was annoying, you know, but then also when it was
really great, like I one of the composers I think
(35:56):
is so amazing, as Mika Levy, who did she did
Jackie the movie Jackie about Jackie Nassa's Yes, yes, And
it's such an arresting score, so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
But and there are plenty of scores like that. Of course,
of course we love.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
John Williams and all that, you know, I mean that
is waltwall music with an orchestra. It's just crazy, you
know what he can do. But I don't really remember
because I watched, you know, all the kids shows that
everybody else watched growing up, and I just I don't
remember that. I remember listening to records more and the radio,
you know. But I think a lot of that television music,
(36:33):
that movie music went in because my dad loved old movies,
so he was constantly, you know, getting me to watch
old movies and and there is to me. I guess
where maybe Gilmore Girls fans might you know, find the
score to that comforting. I find a lot of the
old forties music in scores, specifically the Newman Family. They
(36:59):
did a lot of the old scores like in the
forties and late thirties, and so that music, you know,
those scores, and I think I think Warner Brothers used
a lot of those cues in other movies. I've heard them,
like there's something in Casablanca that's in another movie that
I heard with Betty Davis in it. You know, it's
a library of music, and there's just something about that
(37:21):
beautiful music that's really comforting. And I will always say this,
I think one of the best scores, maybe one of
the craziest scores, Bugs Bunny. I think that the Bugs
Bunny scores are pretty nuts because I think they were
scoring a picture. I think they were watching the cartoons
and going and they and they hit so many different
songs and styles that it's really it's it's pretty acrobatic
(37:43):
when you listen to a Bugs Bunny, you know, especially
some of the older cartoons.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yes, yes, those, I mean, yeah, the music is as
crazy as like the cartoon is, and it's so fun.
It's so fun to listen to, and it's so effective,
I think, and making you feel the certain ways.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
So you you worked with Amy Sharm Paladino on her
other shows bun Heads and Marvelous Missus Maisel.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Were those there? I know they're they're different from gilmore
but they also obviously share a lot of the same
DNA like like, was that a different experience for you
working on those other shows?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
It was.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I worked more with my partner, Eric Gorfain on both
of those shows.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
He and I.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
He is a wonderful violinist and arranger, composer, and so
he was. I think the Bunheads was a little more
it was closer to gilmore Land, but then when we
got to Marvelous Missus Maisel, he was doing some beautiful
you know, string cues and beautiful things. I think with
(38:47):
Mazel it just seemed like it really they really needed
to do more of those, you know, the needle drops again,
the previsting music.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
There was just so many great things.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And then you know, there were some wonderful composers in
New York that were, you know, Broadway composers, which is
just not my that's not my world at all. I
appreciate it, but I just that's other than maybe being
kind of melodic. But I just I don't understand how
to how to make Broadway music at all. It would
have to be a really weird Broadway fighter. I don't
(39:21):
think it'll ever happen for me to do something like that.
But but yeah, it was. It was really interesting and
fun to work on the different shows. Yeah, but again,
I just I don't know. That's not that wasn't ever
my focus and that wasn't ever my direction to be
a composer. It just so happened that we there was
(39:44):
that intersection of of what I do and what AMY wanted.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
It's yeah, it's it's so it's so interesting and it's
so cool. I was going to ask that, actually, like,
have you has this experience made you want to like
write something for Broadway or or anything like that, or
would you ever want to score for someone other than Amy,
Shearam Palladino. Has that ever been something you're interested in, you.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Know, in the with the right the right person and
the right film or or series.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
It, yes, that that would be great.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I just it's it's tough though it sometimes you're you
have to be a little bit of a mind reader
if you're not on the same page. And I know
a lot of composers and what they've been through, and
it's it's hard, it's not easy. I admire one of
the composers, you know, John Bryan.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I've known him for a long time and he is
wonderful at it. But you know, it's not easy giving
a director or a studio or you know, business people
what they want. So there's there's a hard, cold reality
to it on the other side, on the business side
that I feel wasn't as hard.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Wasn't hard and difficult with Amy, you know it was.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It was much more fun and just I think, as
it should be, so, I think, really, and that comes
from just having that that musical, those musical tastes in common,
and and and hearing it the same way you know
hearing I think, you know, the score should be simple
and and and we should have some piano in it
or you know, so I don't, I don't know. I'm again,
(41:23):
it would just depend on the situation. But I'm have
just finished a record or just finishing a record today,
actually my last, the last mix, and I enjoyed doing
that so much. I enjoy writing songs and recording, so
you know, I'm I'll always be doing that.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I'll be doing that whether anyone listens, I'll just keep
doing it.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
It's a you know, I guess it's a hard habit
to break after all these years.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Tell us about this record you just finished? What wh
can we know about it? I'm so excited?
Speaker 3 (41:55):
What can I tell you about it?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Well, there are a lot of strings on it, all right,
And and and also you know, it's I think it's
to get a little serious for a second. I hope
that's okay, absolutely, But it's it's about it's about identity.
I think that identity is a really important issue during
(42:17):
these times culturally politically. I think, you know, just with
the technology that that is so prevalent in our culture
and in our in our heads and around us all
the time. I think, you know, as Nick Cave wrote,
you know, hold on to yourself. And I think that
(42:38):
holding on to our identities and and listening to ourselves
not always just you know, riding the waves of social
media and all the information that's coming at us.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
I think it's really important. And so that that was
a theme.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
That's a theme in there, and there's some other things
I think kind of like that scene you know, uh
where oh my gosh in Chinatown where if they done
away is kind of going my you know.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
She's my sister, she's my daughter, my sister, my daughter.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
I kind of feel like it's it's personal, it's political,
it's personal, it's there's a lot of things that came
out not meaning to just the kind of the way
I write is just always I don't think about it
as much I do edit, you know, I think about
it once i've sort of composed something, but it's just
a lot of it just comes out more from my
(43:28):
subconscious or just stream of consciousness, I guess you'd say,
and then I craft it later.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
So there's a lot. There's a lot in there, a
lot packed in.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
There, and and some very pretty strings and interesting we experimented,
you know, I kind of did a different kind of
thing that I've done before with the instrumentation and the writing,
you know.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
So it's I don't know what kind of music? Do
you make it? A lady of my age? You know,
I don't know. I don't know what kind of music.
But it's sort of like, you know, do I wear hats? Now?
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Now when you're over a certain age, like you're over fifty,
do I wear hats?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
What do I do? Do I wear long skirts? I
don't know?
Speaker 2 (44:11):
And I think as an artist, you know, I just
want to keep growing and keep pushing until, you know,
until it's like time until okay, times out. I just
want to get as much done as I can to
put into the time capsule for you know, whatever that is.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
It's so it's so inspiring to hear and so exciting
because like I love talking to people like you because
you know, you're making music and then someone comes to
you and says, hey, do you want to score a
TV show? And I've never done that, Yes, let's do it.
And and then now like this music you're making like
trying new things and just want to keep going and
keep creating. It's such an infectious like thing to be
(44:48):
around it. It's it's really exciting. And the twentieth anniversary
of your album A Boot and a Shoe. I saw
it came in on vinyl late last year. That's exciting too.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yeah, that was fun because that of that reflecting light,
which seemed to resonate with so many Gilmore fans, is
on that record, you know, which is that? And that
was an odd thing too, that Amy chose that for
to be Lorela and and you know Luke's first dance.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
It was not at all that sort of a song.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It was more of an esoteric kind of song, but
it I thought, but it did work, you know, for them.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
And then you know, we revisited.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
That in the revival and I added a little section
to it to the original, so it was it was fun.
I love those through lines and I you know, just
the care that Amy always takes, I think with the
with the writing, with the little.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Visual cues, with the music.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Again, there's there's nobody really like her, and like Dan
Palladino that they nobody really does what they do. The
dramedy is not a common thing. And I remember talking
to her about when we started I think bun Heads.
It was a long time ago, and we were just
talking about television and how there were so many shows
(46:04):
that were so violent and so serious, like like they
just didn't and I thought that's interesting. They were just
missing a sense of humor completely. And you know, since then,
there are shows like The Bear that are you know,
that's intense and has some really crazy serious stuff, but
still has a sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
You know, it's still funny.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I don't know if you'd call it a normal comedy,
I don't know what you call Maybe that's a remedy.
I don't know, but it's just it's cool to always
I think see things like that they're intense or what
you know, crazy stories, but that they still there's still
a sense of humor and because we just need more
of that, which we do a lot more of that
these days.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Absolutely. Sam Phillips, thank you so much for your time today,
for indulging us and sharing your music with us. Just
the greatest gift that we could receive. It's it's so
it's so beautiful and uh and you're just the coolest
person in the world. I thought you would be, and
you did not disappoint. You exceeded every expectation I had.
(47:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Wow, Easton, thank you so much. It's so kind.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Of you to say I will take all of that
in and just have the best week now.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Excellent, and everyone look out for this new record that
Sam Phillips just recorded the Instagram best place for people
to keep up with you as your.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Website Instagram on the website. And yes, don't have a
release date at the moment because we're just finishing, but
soon soon.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
All right, well we can't wait. Thanks again, Thank you
so much everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram
(48:07):
at I Am all In podcast and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
I am all in again. Oh, I guess you. I
Smell pop Culture with Easton Allen and I Heeart Radio
(00:21):
podcast Everybody, Easton Allen, I amil and Podcasts one of
them productions. iHeart radio, iHeart Media, iHeart podcasts. It's I
Smell pop Culture. I Smell pop culture. And you know
what we're doing this week, everybody, we are hearing pop
culture too. We're incorporating another sense besides smell. Here's the
thing about this podcast. If you're just joining us for
(00:42):
the first time. My name is Easton and I have
been appointed by our Lord and Savior Scott Patterson, to
go through the pop culture references in Gilmore Girls and
dive deeper, talk to the people that created them, that
are them, that make these little moments, these permanent fixtures
(01:05):
of pop culture in our world. We're doing something a
little different this week. We're not really exploring a pop
culture reference. We're going bigger, baby, we got we got
no limits here. Where the sky is the limit for
what we're doing. Here's the thing with Gilmore Girls. When
you're watching Gilmore Girls, you'll hear these little moments, these
(01:26):
little musical pieces. An acoustic guitar, maybe a la la,
these little moments that set the mood in such a
perfect way. And I know what you're thinking. You're watching
this going like wow, this is These are such magical
little nuggets. Where did these come from? Who created these?
Did they just come out of the air?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
No, No, A person created these, A person just like
you and I, A person with a beating heart created
these little moments. And that is Sam Phillips. She is
an incredible musician. She's a in our artists, a soul artist.
She's released a bunch of records, She's Grammy nominated. But
the reason we're talking to her is because she is
(02:08):
the composer for all seven seasons of Gilmart Girls, including
the revival. She also worked on Bunheads, Marvelous, Missus Masel,
She worked on that beautiful Walmart commercial that we love
from the holidays. Sam Phillips is the leader of everything
musical in the world of Gilmar Girls. She composed all
those incredible musical cues and those that score that we
(02:31):
love so much. And we're going to talk to her today.
We're going to find out what inspired those things. How
do you put it together? How do you score a
TV show like Gilmore girls, like, how does that work?
We're going to ask all those questions and we're going
to ask so much more and Sam Phillips is here
with us. Thank you so much for doing this. We're
so excited.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Aston. That's such a lovely intro. Thank you, thank you
for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you know we're going to talk a lot about
Gilmart girls obviously, but before we get into that, I
like going back to the beginning. I want to hear
the origin story of Sam Phillips. Did you grow up
in Glendale, California? Is that right? I did, not far
from where I sit right now. Glendale's a Beatle Yeah,
I'm in Burbank, the gem city Glendale. When did you
(03:16):
realize that you loved music? What point did that happen
for you?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think I was three? Yeah, yeah, I remember the
Beatles at three?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Was there a song that caught you? Caught your ear?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I wasn't allowed to touch the record player, so I
there was a single.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I think it was I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And I made my older brother or my mom or
my whoever was around, I made them play again again.
I play it on the record player. So yeah, it
was it was early on. But you know, it's interesting
with musical, all the musical influences. A lot of people say, well,
what you grew up listening to?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Would you? And I feel like that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You it's you've taken so much as a kid. You know,
you're listening to commercials on TV. You're listening to kid music.
You know a lot of people the Disney Channel or
whatever I was there was the Sherman Brothers when I
was growing up, to all the Disney movies, you know,
and so you just you get all these bits and
pieces as well as classical music or jazz music, whatever
your parents are playing around the house or on the radio.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, you know, it all blends together to create the
styles we love. I'm always so curious, like when people
become musicians themselves, like what what is that spark that
makes you go, I could do this. I want to
make my own like like I want to write songs.
Do you remember when you wrote your first song?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I do.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I was about fourteen when I wrote my first song,
and I you know, this sounds terrible, but I think
that I got the courage because there were people that
I thought, well, they aren't that great. I could I
guess probably do like get close to that level, you know,
but alas my I don't know if my singing chops
(04:58):
ever got to a su perior level. I, you know,
seem to have a very specific as Amy Sherman Palladino
would say, I have a very specific voice, and it's
you know, it is what it is. But sometimes the
songwriter and me gets very frustrated with the singer. You know,
that the singer can't perform all the things that the
(05:18):
songwriter would like her to do.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Interesting, Yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way, that
that personality over here. Yeah. So you released four albums
as a as a Christian pop artist, and then you
switch to mainstream in nineteen eighty eight with the Indescribable
Wow and One album. But I want to something stood
out to me about the credits on that album is
(05:41):
Van Dyke Parks did some of the arrangements. I'm I'm
a huge Beach Boys Brian Wilson fans. That was really
exciting to learn. Yes, what was that like that?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Well, Vandyke is one of the most lovely and one
of the funniest. It's it's like when when he came
to play on my record, we would you know anything.
He is always the host, he is always the cruise director.
He's always been funny and this you know, and I
have to say and all love the strangest person in
the room. So that was fantastic. But I actually had
(06:12):
the chance to work with Brian Wilson a long time ago.
There was a record called Trios, and the bass player
for The Grateful Dead at the time was doing it
was a combination. He was a bass player, so he
would he and then two other guests would collaborate on
a song and then they would record the song. And
(06:35):
I didn't get a chance to record the song, but
I did write a song with Brian Wilson, but his
daughter sang with him for the very first time ever
on sang my song, and I wrote it was quite
a crazy experience and a great thrill and so lovely
to see father and daughter, you know, sing for the
(06:56):
first time together.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's pretty cool. That is magical. Wow, what is you're
part of?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Van Dyke was not there unfortunately, because I mean, just
to have Van Dyke anywhere all the time is a
great thing.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So at that point in your career, what was like
when you make that switch? What like were there are
new sounds you wanted to explore musically, Like, what what
did you want to do at that point?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Are you talking about from the Christian Yeah? Yeah, that
is a this is a very involved story and I
think there's going to be a book at some point.
All right, Really it's a it's a crazy story. But
and and so many interesting experiences and you know, so
many great people and then a lot of nutty people and.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Crazy people not so great people.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But I wanted to Uh yes, I wanted to move
on artistically. Wanted to be able to express a lot
of things artistically, and so I I just went to
a different label. It was basically changing and not really
starting over necessarily, but exploring some different ways of writing
(08:06):
songs and recording.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
And you know, it was just it was growing. It
was growth.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And U I mean speaking of growth. Nineteen ninety five,
you have an acting role and I heard with a Vengeance.
I thought that that jumped out of me. I thought
that was so cool. What did you enjoy that? Was
that something you had fun doing? I did.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I loved crew. I thought the crew were fantastic. One
of the crew had a potato gun shooter thing that
we would shoot it. I think it got close to
Bruce Willis's trailer.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm not sure. Well, yeah, but yes, it was lovely.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Jeremy Irons was wonderful, and yes it was a weird experience.
But I basically was in my trailer a lot writing
songs because I didn't have any lines. I was a
mute arrest who's I had been blown up or something
my throat, my vocal cords were detached, I don't know,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Wow. So some of this, like, if you listen to
a Sam Phillips song, there's a chance that you wrote
it in the trailer on the set of Diehard of
the Vengeance? Is that Is that right?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
That? Yes, that could be. It might have been.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Like there's a song called Animals on Wheels that was
on a record that I.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Did in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That that I think that was written in the trailer.
There are probably, yeah, a few others. I don't remember offhand.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
How'd you get put in front of the camera? Like,
how did you get that part? I'm so curious.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Well, I think that I had a record out called
Martinez and Bikinis in nineteen ninety four, and apparently the
director saw the cover of that and thought I looked
like a terrorist.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean, what better compliment, seriously, the highest praise, like
a terrorist get her in here? And I was very
really Initially they wanted either they were trying to decide
between I was a mute and or I had a
German accent. And I'm so relieved that I was a
mute because I really, you.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Know, that was a lot to take on for a
non actor, for just a you know, a songwriter and
a singer person.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I love it so much. Sam Phillips is with us
from the composer of Gilmore Girls, and we're going to
take a visit to stars Hollow here on the IML
on podcast. We're going to take a quick break before
we do that. We'll be right back everybody. It's the
(10:25):
IML and podcast. I Smell pop Culture. My name is
Easton Allen. We are sitting here with Sam Phillips, the
composer of Gilmore Girls, all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls.
I mean, the mark you leave on that show is indelible.
It's one of like the music you wrote. Every Gilmore
Girls fan hums it on a daily basis. I know
(10:46):
this to be a fact. How did you get involved
with gilmore Girls. How did that partnership begin?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
By default, I would say Valadino met with her. I
think initially she told me she wanted Carol King to
do the score and the theme song. But Carol My
understanding of the story was that Carol did not want
to do the score, She just wanted to do the
theme song. So for some reason, I think Amy had
(11:15):
come to one of my shows in Los Angeles and
she we met and we just kind of had to
hammer it out, you know, because she was saying she
wanted she wanted me to write these little pieces of music,
but wanted me to use my voice, and so I
tried writing some lyrics and that, you know, with the
really funny and.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Rapid fire dialogue. Obviously that wasn't going to work. So
I started I kind of went back to one of
my idols, and Harry Nilssen, the great Harry Nilson, who
had done I think he'd done a score in the
sixties when I was a kid of a TV show
and he did a lot of background vocals, and so
I just started doing that and little melodies that I
(11:57):
had had been working on, I kind of I just
took them into gilmore Land and Amy had said, I
want this score to be or your voice to be
the voice inside Laurla and Rory's heads.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Which is a very interesting concept.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
And I love Amy and Dan Palladino and you know,
for being so they love music so much, and I
really appreciated that they knew a lot of music and
that they wanted to do something very different and experimental,
because I think at the time their network was connected
to Warner Brothers record Company, and there was a lot
(12:36):
of push it, like, you know, just play our new music,
you know, all the way through, just you know, from
start to finish, because that was done a lot, you know,
and it's still done a lot where there's music just
through everything.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
But I kept saying, you.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Know what, let's just maybe take a break because we
want you know, there's that great dialogue and just some breaths,
not music throughout the whole thing. So then there are
these little mini you know, songs. But it's interesting, it's
I never would have thought that people would have listened
to it. I in fact, I know one of my
(13:08):
friends because the Gum Girls in the beginning, you know,
was had been classified as a chick show by many guys,
and one of my friend's husbands said, you know, what
is that? Like she was watching Gimbore Girls one time
and he said, from the other room, what is that?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Terrible lala music? What is that? That was me, so
I didn't know if.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, it's again it's a specific thing, and I'm I'm
glad that people did embrace it and it wasn't annoying.
I certainly didn't mean it to be that way, but
I just had so much fun doing those you know,
those cues, those little music interludes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I mean, in terms of it be annoying, I could
not disagree more. I think that is like it's it.
Every one of those cues sets the mood so perfectly
and feels so it's so unique and distinct to go
more girls, And that's something that I don't think you
don't get that with so many television shows or movies
for that matter. When you were like figuring out the
(14:11):
sound and what this was going to be, I mean,
you know, I know you got these notes like you
wanted to be the voice inside their heads and things
like that, but like, I'm just curious how you, like,
did you try a bunch of different styles, different instruments,
like what was the experimentation process like trying to find
that kind of lane.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well, it was interesting because I think that there was
some kind of connection in the very beginning of what
because I had done pop records, you know, in the
nineties and at that point, right at that point, I
had had my own kid and I just made it.
I just kind of pivoted to something that was much
more stripped down, and I was working in that less production,
(14:56):
I guess, and also at that time, working with my
producer at the time, was was doing a lot of
kind of country or Americana music, and so I think
we tried mandolin at one point, and you know they
were just like no, no, not country, you know, and guitars,
(15:17):
and I was very working with acoustic instruments, not really
working with a lot of you know, electronic instruments at
that time, and so that was kind of the that
was my world at the time, and I just proceeded
to do that and and just make it very simple
and that that seemed to work, even even trying to
I tried to put some strings on it, you know
(15:38):
a little bit, and that seemed to be you know, no, no, no,
too dark, too heavy. So you know, there wasn't a
ton of experimentation. I didn't try to, you know, bring
in like a lot of synthesizers or anything.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
You know, it wasn't or drum machines.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So it was pretty straightforward what I was into, what
I was doing at the time, and I was making
still making records at the time or for None Such
the Non Such label, So it was it was an
interesting time. I just was working a lot, you know,
composing a lot and singing a lot, and it was
really fun. And I'm so glad that that happened to
be what resonated with Amy.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I know that you were like you had your own
like music career going out at the same time, And
I was thinking about that this morning, going like, how
do you That must have been wild, because like you
have I imagine the Gilmore Girls production, Like when you're in production,
you're just working NonStop on that, and then you have
to find time to like go home and like, oh
(16:38):
I will I want to write my own stuff, or
you have maybe you want to go on tour or
something like that. Was it hard to balance those two careers?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, not really a little bit of the scheduling. Yeah,
sometimes the scheduling. But but it's sort of like you know,
when you're I think the more you work, the more
you work. And I think it was a really great productive,
creative time and I did. I did have a setup
at home, which was a lifesaver because I think it
you know, that would have been harder to have to
(17:07):
go into the studio all the time, you know, so
I was able to that made it a little bit
more convenient. But it was really wonderful and I and
luckily those one fed off the other, you know, there
were you know, I felt the main thing I was
trying to do. I was trying to write melodies that
would really go to picture, which I found very difficult.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It was really especially you know, especially with comedy.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think when you're doing like action movies or suspense,
you know, or very serious you know movies or television shows,
I think it's so easy to be dark, you know,
it's really you could just you know, that's to me,
that's a lot easier than some of the lighter moments,
you know, So it was a challenge.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I wasn't used to.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I was a little bit more serious, you know, in
some of my music, so to making it lighthearted I
tried to just use the melodies the best I could
because I didn't quite know how to go about that,
but you know did and she was there to guide me.
And I have to say she in the beginning, in
the first spotting sessions, which is where you find, you know,
spots for music you watch the show, and she was
(18:12):
there at all of them. I love that to guide me,
and of course was just we laughed a lot. She
was so funny and so great to work with, and
I was lucky to have her because you know, I
mean she was the showrunner, you know, the executive producer,
the writer, the creator, she was doing everything, and I
(18:33):
respected that she wanted to shape her show, you know,
she wanted to be involved in all the different aspects
of it and wanted to have a lot of women
on the crew, you know, which is that's pretty unusual.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
There aren't.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I mean, there are more women composers now, but maybe
not as many then, you know, so I really respect
that and it was great to be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
A part of it.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I mean, there's so much really about Amy Sherman Paladino,
and like I mean, hearing all this is just so
exciting because it's like things that I always kind of
thought and then hearing you say it, you're confirming it
is awesome. But doing this podcast and like we explore
like the pop culture references on the on the show
through these episodes, and I've come to like kind of
(19:22):
figure out what the music that Amy likes, like you know,
like B fifty two's xCC stuff like that. There was
there a lot of her like personal tastes that kind
of like came through in the score. Was there like
times where you'd be in those sessions and she'd be like, oh,
we should do something like this band would do or
did she kind of give you ultimate freedom?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
No, she gave me ultimate freedom.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And she said at the end that and it's you know,
made me tear up. She I think her at the
very end when she stepped off the show, she just said,
thank you so much for all these little masterpieces that
you created and meant so much to me.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Because you know.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Amy's you know, she's a she's a tough guy too,
and but I I know she she and protected me.
She protected me from a lot of the notes. Maybe
that the network had they there could have been somebody
that went that lady stinks, get her off of it,
you know, stop that person from you know, doing the score.
But I don't know, I'll never know, because Amy wanted
(20:25):
me to do it, and I didn't get notes.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I just kept going.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, of course, you know, she would say maybe,
like I said before, you know, maybe that's too heavy,
maybe you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Something light or something different.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
But but I think again, I think that she the melodies.
I think somehow, you know, resonated. So I just I
feel lucky that we were, that we connected in that
way and were able to work together, because that just
doesn't always happen. And again, you know, I always have
a director or you know, an EP that loves music
or knows music, and a lot of I agree with
(20:57):
her tastes, you know, sparks and.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You know a lot of the XDC.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I mean, we you know, talked about that in the
beginning too, because when I the funny part was when
I came in to talk to her about doing the
score of the show. I just said, aiming, I haven't
really watched TV in a decade, like.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I've been on the road, I don't.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
At the time, I was like, I've watched movies, but
I the last I think, like the last television show
I was really watching was Twin Peaks.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I just have no I don't know what you know,
what a normal score is. So that's the other part
of it.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I just kind of came into it kind of very blind,
you know, because and somehow it worked.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So, I mean, I love it, and to me it
makes so much sense of why it's like so unique
and distinct. Is like you weren't trying to emulate something else,
You're just creating something so organic. I love it. It's beautiful.
Uh So that was I mean, Gummar Girls, is your
first time scoring something? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yes? Wow, yeah, I never thought I would ever do that.
So and I'm glad that.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
She took a chance again because it's you know, it
was it was odd. But they also though they had
tempted in some things that were kind of that gave
me clues, you know. That's always the interesting thing within
the pilot. They had tempted in different you know, uh,
musical moments that I thought, oh, okay, I could I
think I can do that in a different way, So
(22:24):
that that was.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
A little bit of a clue.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
But I really had to go, you know, step by
step and episode by episode, which was great and I
actually probably missed a lot of those cultural references because
I was so focused on doing the music. I heard
the dialogue, but I've since you know, been able to
watch and see more of the you know, the genius.
They had so many great writers coming through their writer
room during the series and it you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Still amazed that it's that people are still love it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
You know, it's it's kind of crazy but not yeah, right, wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah. I really love her writing and love the show
that she created.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
We're so lucky to live in a in a Gilmore
Girls universe. It's it's just the best. Uh, forgive, forgive
my ignorance. I'm I'm so naive when it comes to
the process of scoring something Like when I think about it,
I always picture those like you know when you see
those like behind the scenes thing of like John Williams
and the big and they have the movie on the
(23:23):
big screen. You know, I'm curious, like what can you
take me through? Like like a typical Gilmore Girls episode,
But like where how does it start for you?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
How?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
What's the process?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Like we would we would watch the episode, watch it
with Amy and and and sometimes the director.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I'm trying to remember what we did.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
But anyway, we had a crew of people that we
would watch it with and then and then usually Amy
would say I think music should be here, you know,
and and how about here?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
And sometimes I would say.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Oh, I think maybe music would be good here, and
then other times I would say, I don't know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Think there's music there. But so we would just go
through the whole show.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I would make notes, I would go home, and then
I would just take my guitar and sing.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
To the show.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
It was really basic, and I was not on a
computer with timecode or any of that kind of stuff.
Since you know, of course done that because it's you know,
that's what you sort of sort of have to do now.
I mean you can kind of spitball it, but not really.
But so that was basically the way to do it.
(24:33):
And I would try things and I would just you know,
run the spot again and again and again and see
what came to mind what I liked, and then I'd
go and record a bunch of cues with my engineer,
mikey and who has done all the Gilmore things, including
the revival and including the commercial that we did for
the holidays, which was pretty amazing to be able to
(24:57):
go back and do that with strengths they wanted to.
So I got to put you know, an orchestra on that,
which was really cool.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Oh my god. I mean I was going to ask
you if you because I know you came back for
the revival, but I was wondering if you were involved
with that commercial because that was like such a that
was so gilmore.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
They yet, well, they asked for my song how to
Dreamy and so without the lyrics, which was also in
the series as a cue without the lyrics, and so
I did that. But I got to put all these strings,
a lot of my friends, a lot of string players
on it, which was you know, so fun, so much
fun for me. And I thought that even though it
was only like you know, twenty seconds or whatever, with
(25:35):
thirty seconds, it was you know, a great thrill. And
that's that's the other thing about composing. It's so so
odd coming from songwriting and making records.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It's so odd to make things that.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Are so tiny, so small and quick, and you know,
fitting in these little spaces between you know, around dialogue
and between scenes. And it wasn't it was very that
was more complicated and difficult for me. But somehow we somehow.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
We did it in seasons. I don't know how we
did it.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Was it like writing these little cues and stuff and
not using any lyrics or or anything like that. Was
that challenging or was it did? Or was that easier
than like a typical songwriting.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Oh yeah, I'm more particular about lyrics, and so I'm
slower with lyrics. So I never There's no way I
could have been writing lyrics that fast for because you know,
we were airing every week twenty one episodes. I think
it was, you know, with some breaks in our schedule,
but it but I also felt that just the I
(26:41):
didn't need to do that because of the dialogue, I
didn't need any lyrics. But I also it did make
it more of a challenge to make that melody speak
to you know, the to to support the scene, to
speak to the mood of the scene.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
So it was it was a challenge. It was.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, it was difficult, but so much fun again, and
I just forged ahead. I don't know, I just I
just kept going. And I think there's something about it.
I have a friend who's a haircutter, and he always
does his best haircuts when he's in a hurry, like
when he's just like he doesn't have time, you know,
And it's so funny, and I felt like we were
just working, working, working. I think it was better not
(27:21):
to worry about it too much, not to get too
uptight about it, just to keep going, just to keep working,
keep you know.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Trying to just get it done.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I love it. I love it. Sam Phillips is with us.
This is the I Am all In Podcast. This is
I'm loving this. I'm just eating this up. This is
so cool and so fascinating. We have more questions for you.
We're going to be right back though. We're gonna hear
about some nice goods and services that you might want
to participate in. It is I smell pop culture. My
(27:56):
name is Easton Allen. I'm hanging out here with Sam Phillips,
the composer of Gilmart Girls, all seven seasons, the revival,
the Walmart commercial, you heard over the holidays. Sam is
just every musical moment that you loving Gilmart Girls. Sam's
fingerprints are all over. This is so much fun hanging out.
So when you're watched, like like scoring the show, I
(28:21):
mean I was thinking about that, like you said the
first part of the process is you sit down Amy
and you watch the show. It just struck me that,
like there's no music. There's no music like at that point,
right because you haven't written it yet, you haven't recorded anything,
you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Sometimes Amy would drop in a I mean she would
sometimes there were episodes she wrote where she had specific
songs already you know, they were already trying to license
some of the songs, either for a comedy bit you
know that, or just you know, she something she wanted
them to get to, you know, to put in there.
So she had very strong opinions about that, which are
(28:56):
great and has I think served her so well. She
and and Dan and Robin the music supervisor in Marvelous
Missus Maisel, I thought, did such a beautiful job with
the music, and they did mostly it really wasn't much score.
It was mostly just as they say, needle drops, you
know music because of the period, you know, time and
(29:17):
just so great a lot of Broadway and just loved it.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I just thought it was such a for younger viewers.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It was such a great education who people who didn't
know that era or didn't know a lot of those
different you know songs, even like Frank Sinatra or Barbara
Streiss and a lot of really cool stuff. But anyway, digressing,
but yeah, it was, Yeah, there wasn't any music, so
I just kind of had to do my thing, yeah,
(29:46):
to make it not be empty. But also I just
I didn't like, I don't like a lot of the
for maybe a dramedy like that, I don't love wald
while music. And at that point, I think I was
very stubborn about like a lot of times I would
just say, no, I don't think there should be music here.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, we need a breath, we need to we
need to breathe.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And so I that's a lot of times I think
that no music was was a good choice. And that's
kind of funny when you're a composer, you know, oh no, no,
no music.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
That's so interesting because that that, I mean, that's like instinct,
like you just have to know just go like what
feels right, and because like I would, you know, I
would want to go in there and just be like,
oh yeah, we'll just play something the whole way through.
But like, but like you said, the absence of music
has its place too and conserve a purpose.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, and Amy did that well too, because sometimes she
wanted music in spots we would try something and then
you know, she would take it out and we both
agree yeah, or or she would just you know, she
would have her way with the score. And again I
just think she was really really she's great at it.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
She's really good at it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
What was it like coming back for the revival after
you know, after not having done Go More Girls for
that long, that period of time, Uh, did you like
fall right back into the groove or what was that like?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah? And also it was it was really fun to
do that.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And I feel like we did because again I worked
with the same engineer, recording engineer, and and also it
Amy wanted some of the old cues in there, so
you know, we did have to re record some of
them for the revival, and and that was that was
interesting too to hit hit some of those notes, you know,
(31:37):
And I thought especially fun with the very first cue,
you know that we I got to do one of
the you know, one of the ones that and that
was another funny thing that Amy had cues that she
loved and she would choose them again and again and again.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It was really it was great that we loved.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
There was one Q called music Box and she loved
it to just use it all the time. It just
was for some reason, and it was really descriptive of
of a lot of Gilmore moments.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
So I wish I could play it for you. There
was no vocal on it, so I can't sing it
for you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But anyway, would you say, like I mean, was there
a point where like something like music Box was in
like three episodes in a row or something like like
where they use that.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Did she have certain favorites that were that frequent? Really?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Sometimes maybe somebody would say, oh, we maybe used that before,
but you know, she had no shame.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Hey she's the boss.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
I loved it, and I think also, I'm sorry, but
the other thing that I have loved about, you know,
maybe growing up being a TV baby, and and also movies.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
I do like reoccurring.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Themes, and I think that that's you know, and not
in a funny way.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
There is a comforting thing to that too.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
There's I don't know, and I've heard that often that
a lot of people find Gilmore girls comforting. I mean,
it's certainly feels sometimes to me like it you know,
it's like a cup of coffee or you know, a
warm cup of tea, you know, Camma milt tea, whatever
you know, at the given moment, whatever.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Is going on.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's funny, but it's also I think you really love
the characters and the town that she's created, and you
love spending time with them.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Absolutely. That's something I hear from people the most, is like, like,
there's so many people that I know they're like, oh,
I rewatch it every fall. That's like part of my
yearly tradition. And it feels it's so comforting. It's so
it feels like I'm visiting old friends. It's and I
think that's such a magic thing to be a part of, uh,
because you know how many shows can be are that
(33:40):
for people? I think if you ask people like what's
the most like what's your comfort show, Gimmrgirls has got
to be like number one, if not number number two
or something.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I hadn't really necessarily thought about it that way, but yeah,
it really is. And I don't know that that's the
way that you know, Amy started out thinking about it.
Maybe she was thinking more of like Twin Peaks but
sort of happy.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know, you know, like a cast.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Of characters in a town and intrigue. The intrigue is
really just if you know, where can you get the
good cup of coffee, rather than you know, somebody gets murdered.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
So that's okay with me. I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
One of the first times that I saw Lauren Graham,
actually not on my copy of the show, watching it
for music, was a little coffee shop near the Warner
Brothers lot. I went in to get a cup of
coffee and there she Lauren was walking out, and she
was dressed like Laura I, and she was had a
cup of coffee, and I just it was so weird
(34:40):
because I've just been watching her with a lot of coffee,
a lot of coffee, a lot of coffee cups. That
it was just it was wasn't sure if I was
in Stars Hollow or I was in Burbank, California.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So I'm curious too, Like there are so many people
that at watch Gilmart Girls as young people and hear
those musical cues that you wrote and you recorded and
probably I love thinking about this, Like they hear that
and go like, wow, this music is making me feel
such a specific way. I want to do something like this.
(35:17):
I want to start making music like and I know that,
like you, you started out as you know, just a
musician making your own songs, like you didn't necessarily dream
of being a composer, I'm sure when you were a kid.
But but did you do you remember like were there
specific like movies or TV shows where like the music
really stood out to you?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Again, you know, it's a little harder because everything just
kind of went in As a kid, I wasn't, I think,
you know, as I got older, I think that I
would music would stand out to me sometimes if it
was annoying, you know, but then also when it was
really great, like I one of the composers I think
(35:56):
is so amazing, as Mika Levy, who did she did
Jackie the movie Jackie about Jackie Nassa's Yes, yes, And
it's such an arresting score, so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
But and there are plenty of scores like that. Of course,
of course we love.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
John Williams and all that, you know, I mean that
is waltwall music with an orchestra. It's just crazy, you
know what he can do. But I don't really remember
because I watched, you know, all the kids shows that
everybody else watched growing up, and I just I don't
remember that. I remember listening to records more and the radio,
you know. But I think a lot of that television music,
(36:33):
that movie music went in because my dad loved old movies,
so he was constantly, you know, getting me to watch
old movies and and there is to me. I guess
where maybe Gilmore Girls fans might you know, find the
score to that comforting. I find a lot of the
old forties music in scores, specifically the Newman Family. They
(36:59):
did a lot of the old scores like in the
forties and late thirties, and so that music, you know,
those scores, and I think I think Warner Brothers used
a lot of those cues in other movies. I've heard them,
like there's something in Casablanca that's in another movie that
I heard with Betty Davis in it. You know, it's
a library of music, and there's just something about that
(37:21):
beautiful music that's really comforting. And I will always say this,
I think one of the best scores, maybe one of
the craziest scores, Bugs Bunny. I think that the Bugs
Bunny scores are pretty nuts because I think they were
scoring a picture. I think they were watching the cartoons
and going and they and they hit so many different
songs and styles that it's really it's it's pretty acrobatic
(37:43):
when you listen to a Bugs Bunny, you know, especially
some of the older cartoons.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yes, yes, those, I mean, yeah, the music is as
crazy as like the cartoon is, and it's so fun.
It's so fun to listen to, and it's so effective,
I think, and making you feel the certain ways.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
So you you worked with Amy Sharm Paladino on her
other shows bun Heads and Marvelous Missus Maisel.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Were those there? I know they're they're different from gilmore
but they also obviously share a lot of the same
DNA like like, was that a different experience for you
working on those other shows?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
It was.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I worked more with my partner, Eric Gorfain on both
of those shows.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
He and I.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
He is a wonderful violinist and arranger, composer, and so
he was. I think the Bunheads was a little more
it was closer to gilmore Land, but then when we
got to Marvelous Missus Maisel, he was doing some beautiful
you know, string cues and beautiful things. I think with
(38:47):
Mazel it just seemed like it really they really needed
to do more of those, you know, the needle drops again,
the previsting music.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
There was just so many great things.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And then you know, there were some wonderful composers in
New York that were, you know, Broadway composers, which is
just not my that's not my world at all. I
appreciate it, but I just that's other than maybe being
kind of melodic. But I just I don't understand how
to how to make Broadway music at all. It would
have to be a really weird Broadway fighter. I don't
(39:21):
think it'll ever happen for me to do something like that.
But but yeah, it was. It was really interesting and
fun to work on the different shows. Yeah, but again,
I just I don't know. That's not that wasn't ever
my focus and that wasn't ever my direction to be
a composer. It just so happened that we there was
(39:44):
that intersection of of what I do and what AMY wanted.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
It's yeah, it's it's so it's so interesting and it's
so cool. I was going to ask that, actually, like,
have you has this experience made you want to like
write something for Broadway or or anything like that, or
would you ever want to score for someone other than Amy,
Shearam Palladino. Has that ever been something you're interested in, you.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Know, in the with the right the right person and
the right film or or series.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
It, yes, that that would be great.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I just it's it's tough though it sometimes you're you
have to be a little bit of a mind reader
if you're not on the same page. And I know
a lot of composers and what they've been through, and
it's it's hard, it's not easy. I admire one of
the composers, you know, John Bryan.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
I love him.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I've known him for a long time and he is
wonderful at it. But you know, it's not easy giving
a director or a studio or you know, business people
what they want. So there's there's a hard, cold reality
to it on the other side, on the business side
that I feel wasn't as hard.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Wasn't hard and difficult with Amy, you know it was.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It was much more fun and just I think, as
it should be, so, I think, really, and that comes
from just having that that musical, those musical tastes in common,
and and and hearing it the same way you know
hearing I think, you know, the score should be simple
and and and we should have some piano in it
or you know, so I don't, I don't know. I'm again,
(41:23):
it would just depend on the situation. But I'm have
just finished a record or just finishing a record today,
actually my last, the last mix, and I enjoyed doing
that so much. I enjoy writing songs and recording, so
you know, I'm I'll always be doing that.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I'll be doing that whether anyone listens, I'll just keep
doing it.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
It's a you know, I guess it's a hard habit
to break after all these years.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Tell us about this record you just finished? What wh
can we know about it? I'm so excited?
Speaker 3 (41:55):
What can I tell you about it?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Well, there are a lot of strings on it, all right,
And and and also you know, it's I think it's
to get a little serious for a second. I hope
that's okay, absolutely, But it's it's about it's about identity.
I think that identity is a really important issue during
(42:17):
these times culturally politically. I think, you know, just with
the technology that that is so prevalent in our culture
and in our in our heads and around us all
the time. I think, you know, as Nick Cave wrote,
you know, hold on to yourself. And I think that
(42:38):
holding on to our identities and and listening to ourselves
not always just you know, riding the waves of social
media and all the information that's coming at us.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
I think it's really important. And so that that was
a theme.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
That's a theme in there, and there's some other things
I think kind of like that scene you know, uh
where oh my gosh in Chinatown where if they done
away is kind of going my you know.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
She's my sister, she's my daughter, my sister, my daughter.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
I kind of feel like it's it's personal, it's political,
it's personal, it's there's a lot of things that came
out not meaning to just the kind of the way
I write is just always I don't think about it
as much I do edit, you know, I think about
it once i've sort of composed something, but it's just
a lot of it just comes out more from my
(43:28):
subconscious or just stream of consciousness, I guess you'd say,
and then I craft it later.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
So there's a lot. There's a lot in there, a
lot packed in.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
There, and and some very pretty strings and interesting we experimented,
you know, I kind of did a different kind of
thing that I've done before with the instrumentation and the writing,
you know.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
So it's I don't know what kind of music? Do
you make it? A lady of my age? You know,
I don't know. I don't know what kind of music.
But it's sort of like, you know, do I wear hats? Now?
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Now when you're over a certain age, like you're over fifty,
do I wear hats?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
What do I do? Do I wear long skirts? I
don't know?
Speaker 2 (44:11):
And I think as an artist, you know, I just
want to keep growing and keep pushing until, you know,
until it's like time until okay, times out. I just
want to get as much done as I can to
put into the time capsule for you know, whatever that is.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
It's so it's so inspiring to hear and so exciting
because like I love talking to people like you because
you know, you're making music and then someone comes to
you and says, hey, do you want to score a
TV show? And I've never done that, Yes, let's do it.
And and then now like this music you're making like
trying new things and just want to keep going and
keep creating. It's such an infectious like thing to be
(44:48):
around it. It's it's really exciting. And the twentieth anniversary
of your album A Boot and a Shoe. I saw
it came in on vinyl late last year. That's exciting too.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yeah, that was fun because that of that reflecting light,
which seemed to resonate with so many Gilmore fans, is
on that record, you know, which is that? And that
was an odd thing too, that Amy chose that for
to be Lorela and and you know Luke's first dance.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
It was not at all that sort of a song.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It was more of an esoteric kind of song, but
it I thought, but it did work, you know, for them.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
And then you know, we revisited.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
That in the revival and I added a little section
to it to the original, so it was it was fun.
I love those through lines and I you know, just
the care that Amy always takes, I think with the
with the writing, with the little.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Visual cues, with the music.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Again, there's there's nobody really like her, and like Dan
Palladino that they nobody really does what they do. The
dramedy is not a common thing. And I remember talking
to her about when we started I think bun Heads.
It was a long time ago, and we were just
talking about television and how there were so many shows
(46:04):
that were so violent and so serious, like like they
just didn't and I thought that's interesting. They were just
missing a sense of humor completely. And you know, since then,
there are shows like The Bear that are you know,
that's intense and has some really crazy serious stuff, but
still has a sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
You know, it's still funny.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I don't know if you'd call it a normal comedy,
I don't know what you call Maybe that's a remedy.
I don't know, but it's just it's cool to always
I think see things like that they're intense or what
you know, crazy stories, but that they still there's still
a sense of humor and because we just need more
of that, which we do a lot more of that
these days.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Absolutely. Sam Phillips, thank you so much for your time today,
for indulging us and sharing your music with us. Just
the greatest gift that we could receive. It's it's so
it's so beautiful and uh and you're just the coolest
person in the world. I thought you would be, and
you did not disappoint. You exceeded every expectation I had.
(47:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Wow, Easton, thank you so much. It's so kind.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Of you to say I will take all of that
in and just have the best week now.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Excellent, and everyone look out for this new record that
Sam Phillips just recorded the Instagram best place for people
to keep up with you as your.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Website Instagram on the website. And yes, don't have a
release date at the moment because we're just finishing, but
soon soon.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
All right, well we can't wait. Thanks again, Thank you
so much everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram
(48:07):
at I Am all In podcast and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.