and we had our grandsons with us . Little guys . Towns was just two and a half years old . And little Ezzy , Ezra , his little brother .
I was in the kitchen , and I just sneezed and stepped back , and little Towns was right behind me . Our feet got tangled up , and we both went down . And I went down fortunately not on top of him , but I went down on my right shoulder , and I tore the main muscle off my rotator cuff , and two tendons . Then I had a three-hour surgery about five days later . I slightly dislocated my shoulder too . It ’ s the most painful thing I think I ’ ve ever had experienced in my life . I couldn ’ t play the acoustic for two months . But I was able to play after the surgery , a little bit of electric , because I had pretty good movement from my elbow down through my hand . But I still have a little difficulty raising my right arm . My doctor said it will take about twelve months before I get full strength back .
So , I ’ m mainly doing sessions instead of doing concerts these days . But I ’ m still on the mend , but I can function pretty well . The only difficulty is just raising it out in front of me . I ’ m doing physical therapy at home when I ’ m a good boy — ha !
[ Bruce ] When you finally were able to pick up the guitar again after that hiatus , did you have some fresh ideas , was it kind of a little bit of a cleansing because you hadn ’ t really touched it in a while ? Were you thinking things in your head during that time ? What were you going through mentally during that ?
[ Phil ] During that time , I went through a lot of heart searching . I went through a lot of memories , remembering my youth , grateful to God for the memories and grateful to God for the ability to play . But new fresh ideas did come . In fact , in September , I had a visitor from
England , Malcolm Guite , who is a book writer , an Anglican priest , a modern-day Hobbit meets Tolkien . He ’ s an amazing poet , and I have a lot of respect for him . He came and we had an idea . He would read his poetry , and then after he went home , I would put his poetry to music . I would create the musical background . So that ’ s something that ’ s coming out soon .
[ Bruce ] How interesting .
[ Phil ] And the music feels like a mixture of Beyond Nature meets Master and the Musician . And it was very inspired . And I also have collaborated with a lot of people over the last few years , like the Music Tellers and Jeff Johnson . Those albums are super special to me , the Music Tellers , which is also on Spotify and on my Bandcamp , and the four albums I did with Jeff Johnson , the last one titled Ravenna , which actually I recorded before my
Getty Irish Christmas 2020