On K Phillips debut American Girls, the West Texan champions the desperate, the sleazy and the broken, with small-town murals that glimpse into the jealousy of a sheriff, lovers that freeze to death and a crude lothario that misquotes dead poets. He prefers bygone rock sounds, leading his band on resonator, mouth harp, banjo, guitar, Hammond B3 and Piano, the latter being his primary tool. “The piano playing came out of necessity. I wanted to write country ballads, Motown grooves and gospel music and it’s not the same on the guitar,” he says, drawing from southern soul and rock as well — his heroes garnered from classic rock radio’s key kings like Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Gregg Allman.