Phillip Roebuck

Phillip Roebuck

Phillip Roebuck is a Virginia-born, New York-bred singer-songwriter and one-man band whose music combines folk, banjo-led songs and punk rock energy. He grows out of a large musical family in Norfolk, Virginia, where he is born, and later spends much of his life moving between Virginia, New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Early life and background

Roebuck is born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grows up in a family with many musicians. His father is a singer-songwriter, and his mother works as a hairstylist. His family travels around the country in support of his father’s musical ambitions before settling back in Virginia Beach, where Roebuck returns during junior high after attending 19 different schools. He also grows up as an only child. His family is large enough to have an annual music festival each July in Pungo, a rural area near Virginia Beach.

In high school, Roebuck is active in surfing, theatre and club performances, while also writing songs regularly. His early influences include Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, his father’s music and punk rock. He learns about punk from his uncle Kenny, whose band has opened for the Ramones.

First bands and record deals

After high school, Roebuck studies acting in Philadelphia, but leaves after a couple of years and returns to Hampton Roads. There he forms his first band, The Hollowbodies, with his cousin Shea Roebuck. In 1993, the pair move to New York and soon after sign with A&M Records. Roebuck also signs as a songwriter with Warner Brothers while still in his early twenties. The Hollowbodies’ debut single is due for release around the time the label is bought by Universal, after which the project loses momentum and the band splits.

Street performance and one-man band work

After The Hollowbodies end, Roebuck begins performing on the streets of New York City. He teaches himself banjo by practising in the subway for eight hours a day over 30 consecutive days. He gradually builds a one-man band set-up using a suitcase as a bass drum, drums worn on his back and occasional cymbals and other percussion. He performs widely in the United States and Europe, with more than a thousand shows in venues and at festivals, but also continues to play street corners in places including New Orleans, New York City and Norfolk. He spends nearly a decade developing this stripped-back performance style.

Roebuck is also hired by Spike Lee to appear in a commercial about street musicians, and the advert airs during the Academy Awards in 2000. He has a strong attachment to street performance, which he treats as a serious musical tradition rather than busking.

Later years, recordings and collaborations

Roebuck plays with Brooklyn Browngrass and later moves to Los Angeles in 2003 to continue his acting work. While living there, he works in music and travels to Europe frequently. After his marriage ends and his children move away with their mother, he writes Fever Pitch in response to that period. In 2006, Steve Albini is impressed by the song and offers to record it. Roebuck later returns to New York for a short time and then goes back to Virginia after becoming ill.

Over the course of his career, Roebuck records five solo albums and more than a dozen albums with other bands. In 2009, he writes an operetta for Juilliard. He also builds a recording studio at his mother’s home in Hampton Roads. He continues to perform in Norfolk with his folk-punk sound.