Phil Keaggy: An Instrumental Musical Guide

Welcome to my guide to the instrumental music of Phil Keaggy. I stumbled across Keaggy’s Beyond Nature as a teenager. It changed my life. It introduced me to instrumental music which eventually led me into classical, Celtic, new age and jazz. Keaggy’s performed most of his music in obscurity playing in a sub-genre of pop/rock that most music fans scorn. At the same time, however, Keaggy’s been releasing incredible instrumental music. 

My goal with this guide is to take Keaggy’s instrumental music seriously. To do that requires a degree of honesty that might come across as harsh. When Keaggy records a DIY album with MIDI flutes and drum machines, I’m not going to give it a strong review. That is not a criticism of the man himself. Even greats like Coltrane released records that are, at a minimum, controversial with his fans.  

Keaggy started performing in the early 1970s with the hard rock trio Glass Harp. By the mid 70s, he’d shifted focus to help create the original “Jesus music,” the early incantation of Christian rock. For over twenty years he released and toured popular Christian pop/rock records. After changes in the music industry, in the late 90s, Keaggy moved into independent releases, both vocal and instrumental.

Keaggy’s instrumental career can be split into three loose phases: 

  • Phase 1 (1978 - 1999) - solo albums made for labels 

  • Phase 2 (1999 - 2008) - solo albums released independently  

  • Phase 3 (2009 - present) - collaborations 

Keaggy recorded the albums in Phase 1 for Christian record labels. These records came, often with gaps of years, between his vocal Christian pop/rock records. There isn’t a coherent style or genre to these records. They range from the jazz fusion of 1978’s Master and Musician to the jazz rock of 1987’s Wind and the Wheat to his acoustic masterpiece, 1991’s Beyond Nature to the rock of 1996’s 220 and his classical Christmas record, 1999’s Majesty and Wonder.  

In 1996, Keaggy started releasing homespun records to his fan club. He recorded, engineered and produced these records at his home studio in Nashville. A few of these records would get picked up by his label for wider distribution. By 1999, Keaggy no longer had a record contract. During Phase 2 of his career, he increased the amount of instrumental releases. Some of these records were only intended for his fan club while others were targeted at his old market of Christian bookstores.    

By 2009, Keaggy’s output had decreased to a trickle and he turned his focus to recording albums with other musicians. This collaborative era saw the guitarist step out of his comfort zone, work with a wider group of musicians and move into new genres. Many of the records recorded in this era are jam sessions with other accomplished musicians that are later edited down into tracks. 

Keaggy can be frustrating for guitar purists because he refuses to settle down into a single genre. He’s versatile in both electric and acoustic guitars and alternates style not just album to album but often within an album! Casual listeners who want to jump in and listen to Keaggy have a hard time figuring out where to begin. His main genres are acoustic, jazz rock, fusion, rock and new age. He isn’t equally strong in all genres. His best material, in my opinion, is his acoustic work. He also generates better output when working with others. 

It’s amazing that Keaggy’s never tried to pull together any “best of” records. The result is that in order to find the many gems in his vast catalog, one has to be willing to dig. I’ve attempted to do that here. I’ve sorted Keaggy’s instrumental albums by major genre below. Each release is given a score on a scale of 1 to 5. Select the album title to read my review, if available. Out of scope for this guide are Keaggy vocal albums, his contributions to other artist’s albums and instrumental tracks on his own vocal albums. I’ve only included live albums if they are instrumental. It will take some time to review his whole catalog so check back for updates. If I haven’t reviewed a record but others have, like AllMusic Guide, I will link to their review.      

Jazz Fusion 

Jazz Rock 

  • 1987 - The Wind And The Wheat - 2/5 

  • 1997 - On the Fly (aka Sojourner) 3/5 - AMG review

  • 1999 - Music to Paint By: Electric Blue - 1/5

  • 2007 - Original Bucket List Jams - Phil Keaggy, Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta

  • 2011 - Numen - Phil Keaggy and Kyle Jones

  • 2019 - The Bucket List - Phil Keaggy, Jerry Marotta, Tony Levin - All About Jazz review

  • 2019 - Catz N' Jammuz - Phil Keaggy, Byron House & Kyle Jones

  • 2020 - An American Garage Band - Keaggy, Blazier & Lunn

Acoustic 

Rock 

  • 1999 - Premium Jams  

  • 2000 - Zion - 3/5

  • 2006 - Jammed!

  • 2011 - Inter-Dimensional Traveler - Keaggy/Giering/Sferra Trio - All About Jazz review

  • 2011 - Cosmic Rumpus - The Keaggy/Giering/Sferra Trio

  • 2013 - Infinity Unleashed - The Keaggy/Giering/Sferra Trio

Classical 

New Age  

  • 2009 - Frio Suite - Phil Keaggy and Jeff Johnson - Echoes review

  • 2012 - WaterSky - Jeff Johnson & Phil Keaggy - Echoes review

  • 2015 - WaterSky Live - Jeff Johnson, Phil Keaggy, Brian Dunning, Wendy Goodwin

  • 2018 - Lightning Catcher - Shinbone (Tom Shinness, Tony Gerber, Phil Keaggy and Kirby Shelstad)

  • 2019 - Cappadocia  - Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy - Echoes review

  • 2019 - Red Lunar - Phil Keaggy & Tony Gerber

  • 2020 - MusicTellers - Keaggy, Gerber, Hayden, Jones

Christmas

  • 1999 - An Angel's Christmas (aka A Christmas Gift) 

  • 2010 - Welcome Inn 

  • 2019 - A Christmas Gift- Volume 2