A look at the musical palette from which Kelly Joe Phelps draws his sound -- a range of colors that includes dabs of jazz, blues, folk and country, alongside literary references, traditional songs and original storytelling -- gives some insight into the uncategorizable arc of his career.  Over the course of six studio albums and an evolution that has included everything from solo slide guitar to band-backed, singer-songwriter soul searching, Phelps has practiced an unorthodox sort of musical alchemy, incorporating influences as diverse as Miles Davis, Leo Kottke and Jimmy Page into his performances.

The Portland, Oregon-based Phelps took his first musical cues from his father, a musician who taught him piano and guitar.  Early explorations led him to the jazz of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, but when he discovered the blues of Skip James, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Robert Pete Williams, he found his voice.  Delivering dazzling, lap-style acoustic slide guitar on early albums like his 1994 debut “Lead Me On,” 1997’s “Roll Away The Stone” and 1999’s “Shine Eyed Mister Zen,” Phelps earned gushing praise from critics and fans alike.  With 2001’s “Sky Like A Broken Clock,” he switched directions, setting the slide aside and adding a backing band.  Though the style changed, the response was the same -- reverent.

Wrote Roy Kasten in The Riverfront Times, “One doesn’t expect such lyrical and vocal talent from virtuoso guitar improvisers.  Like Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt, Phelps reconfigures the blues with every pluck and breath. Like no one else filed under ‘folk,’ he creates his own tradition.”  Or, as The St. Petersburg Times put it, “Critics are going gaga.”

On his latest album, “Tunesmith Retrofit,” released in August 2006 on Rounder Records, Phelps explores new ground once again.  The record features Phelps on the banjo, an instrument he hadn’t played since he was 25, as well as the first original instrumental tracks he’s ever recorded.  It also represents his continued development as a songwriter.  “Part of it is shifting focus, away from music heavily driven by guitar to music that’s more driven by the song,” he says.  And the uncategorization continues.