STRIPMALL BALLADS

Stripmall Ballads is the starkly poetic project of Phillips Saylor Wisor, and Everybody Wins is his most fully realized statement yet—a raw, cinematic folk record mapping the forgotten corners of America with grit and grace. Produced by J. Tom Hnatow and recorded at Small Blue Studio in Lexington, Kentucky, the album features John R. Miller and The Engine Lights, with guest appearances from Lydia Loveless, Willy Tea Taylor, and Bob Sumner. Drawing comparisons to Neil Young, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and the lineage of Townes Van Zandt, Gillian Welch, and Jason Molina, Wisor writes slow-burning ballads set in flood zones, mill towns, and long-empty bedrooms, tracing survival, loss, and fleeting connection on the margins. With a lived-in voice and piercing lyrical empathy, Stripmall Ballads delivers songs that honor overlooked lives—and hit with the kind of emotional weight that resonates deeply on stages and festival grounds.