Modesto musician is a ‘Highway Runner’, releases debut rock album
Longtime Modesto Bee readers may recognize the name Ty Phillips. He started at The Bee in 1987 as a sports clerk at 18 years old. He advanced to a variety of reporting positions: sports, crime, features and finally as a columnist off and on until 2008. His columns about family and raising his sons were reader favorites, later published in a book titled “Glitterjaw.”
Phillips’ writing isn’t limited to the page; add vocals and instruments and his words come alive on stage. In June, he will release his first full-length solo rock album, “Highway Runner,” consisting of 11 songs all written and sung by Phillips.
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“It’s written in the style of a diary where you’re riding along as a passenger on a long, dark, 11-day road trip through the American West,” Phillips said. Although many of the songs are new, the project started with a few songs first conceived over 30 years ago when he was out on the road on various writing assignments, he said.
One notable journey had him following champion steer wrestlers as they traveled the rodeo circuit in 2004, resulting in a biographical book, “Blacktop Cowboys.”
Phillips describes “the road” as a constant inspiration, both as a concept and a path to adventure. “Everything I’ve ever done in my life is about the road,” he said. “ My songs, the stuff I really romanticized from back then, you can hear that in ‘Highway Runner.’ I’ve been on the road my whole life.”
His musical journey began in Escalon, where he was born. At 16, Phillips started writing songs. He would hum melodies to accompany them because he did not play an instrument until he was given a keyboard by his parents.
At first, he bristled at the thought of learning to play. “I didn’t want to learn music because it’s too hard. I just wanted to write. But within like a week or two, I was writing songs on it,” he said.
In 1992, Phillips started his first band, The Wind. Since then, he has played in several other bands in the Modesto area, including Dry Creek, The Bonemen and his current band, Old Man Trouble. He has released music with those bands, but this is his first project released under his name alone.
“Highway Runner” features some of Modesto’s most well-known musicians, including Johnny Valdes on guitar, Dave Hawkes on drums and Lucky Lew on bass. Lew also produced the record at Modesto Sound. Phillips collaborated with special guests Pat Governor on keyboard, his 23-year-old son, Murphy Phillips, on guitar, and Modesto music legend Mike Allsup of Three Dog Night. Allsup co-wrote three of the songs with Phillips.
“These guys are some of the best in this area,” he said. He describes first hiring Lew, who suggested Valdes. Phillips went back to the songs first written in the 1990s and began to jam. “The three of us just started reworking them and made them a lot more interesting, they added jazz chords, and it became smarter,” he said.
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As the music developed, Phillips began to write about the songs. His musings on each recording transformed into expanded liner notes as he reflected on his inspirations for each song and stories about his life at the time, with the lyrics appearing at the end.
Phillips then got an idea: to release these writings like diary entries on an 11-day road trip with the music as the accompaniment. Starting June 7, he will release a song a day on his Facebook page, with exclusive writings, photos, set lists and more. His Day 4 song, “Boys,” already is on YouTube.
“It’s written like a road trip story, like you’re on the road with me, in the passenger seat,” he said. “I think that the best way to listen to this record is to go day by day.”
Inspired by Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper, among others, Phillips has been working on this album for two years. In many ways, it has been something brewing even longer. “I think what comes through is a guy searching for answers. I feel like I’ve been doing that my whole life, and like willing to put myself out there, and not in a safe way, in a real way,” he said.
“Highway Runner” will be available June 6 on Spotify and Apple Music, and the “Highway Runner” package will be released over an 11-day period on Facebook and Instagram, @typhillipsmusic, starting June 7.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
