Over the past two weeks, Roughstock.com has given you a bit of an idea what the Summer Oil Patch Festival is about. For the next few weeks, we’ll take a look at some of the artists that made this years’ line-up one to remember. This week, we chat with native Oklahoman Bo Phillips, who has become a fan favorite in Drumright. It’s a feeling that works both ways.

“Festivals are always fun,” Phillips told Roughstock. “You get to see a lot of people that you might not get to see at a normal set. There may be fans of another act that have never seen you before, so it’s a way to gain fans. You can broaden your fan base a little bit. We really enjoy them.”

Playing at Drumright is something that Bo has really come to enjoy and look forward to. The Summer Oil Patch Festival, he says, is very special. “This is our third year to play here. I’ve played hundreds of shows at hundreds of different venues, and many different festivals. None of them are free, even to get in the gate, much less free food, free drink, and all that. Rick Sellers is just a tremendous music lover and wants to share his passion for the music with a lot of people. It’s such a blessing to see people like that, who aren’t in it to turn a buck. I know that everybody has to keep their lights on, but he does all of this from his heart. It’s an honor to be a part of something like this.”

Phillips entertained with his festival-goers with his unique regional sound. “In Oklahoma, we call it ‘Red Dirt Music.’ I’m not that big on labels or anything like that. I don’t really care what you call it, as long as you enjoy it. It’s so diverse. You have what comes out of my hometown in Stillwater, like Cross Canadian Ragweed, which is a little more rock-based. Then, you have Jason Boland, who is more honky-tonk Country, then there’s Stoney LaRue, who does the bluesy Americana-ish soul stuff.” He says his melting pot of styles has won several fans over. “I’ve had people listen to our set and say, ‘I don’t really like Country Music, but I love your stuff,” he says.

In saying that, Phillips isn’t trying to take a swipe at Top-40 Country Radio. In fact, he feels quite the opposite way. “I don’t share this sentiment, but there’s some people out there who hate the Nashville sound. I don’t, I think whatever kind of music you like, go for it and rock out with it. I do believe that our kind of music is not as concerned with marketability, how cute it is, and how pretty packaged it is.”

Phillips did joke a little bit about some of the endless marketing sessions that labels have sometimes, which are called “focus group sessions.”

“We had a three-minute focus meeting with the band. ‘These are the chords, guys.’ We don’t really care about the packaging of it, or if teenage girls like it. We just write music from the soul, and from the heart. Here it is. If you like it, cool. If not, you might like another of our songs.”

And a Bo Phillips show definitely qualifies as a musical smorgorsboard. You may hear a reference to Waylon and Willie in one song, then No Doubt songstress Gwen Stefani in the next. Phillips says “I do that because it’s fun. I truly, truly, love music in general. I don’t like to constrain myself. I don’t like labels or listening to just one genre of music.”

His latest release, Dirt Road,  has expanded his fan base, but he’s also excited about his upcoming release, slated for a fall release. “This is a pretty solid CD in my opinion, but I think the next one is going to be heads and shoulders above it. I had a great inspiration for some of the songs. It will be all originals, like this one is.”

For more information on the Bo Phillips Band, log on to http://www.facebook.com/bophillipsmusic