singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
Hence began to play music in earnest at the age of 13 after his older brother and sister took him to see a show featuring Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, and the Eagles and his mind was set. "I saw how much fun those guys were having onstage and knew that was what I wanted to do," says Phillips. Through years of honing his songwriting craft in solitude and polishing performance skills in venues ranging from bars to churches to festivals and concert halls, he has been the leader of his own groups as well as a sideman for numerous bands in Santa Barbara County.
After moving to Sacramento, he joined the Jackie Greene Band and spent the summer of 2002 in the studio helping Jackie record his second album. "Gone Wanderin" was released in November 2002 on the DIG Music label. That record, which features Hence on electric slide guitar, dobro, bass, and background vocals, was hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of their Critics' Top 10 Albums of The Year and won a Califorinia Music Award for Best Roots/Blues Album. Hence also played bass on the Jackie Greene DVD, "Broken Hearts & Dusty Roads" and the Bob Dylan tribute record with Jackie and Sal Valentino entitled Positively 12th & K recorded live at Marilyn's in Sacramento. In addition, Hence had the distinct honor of being a part of a San Francisco radio station's annual fund-raiser for the Bay Area Food Bank. This double CD, KFOG Live From The Archives Volume 11, includes songs from artists including Peter Gabriel, Mark Knopfler, Steve Miller, Sarah McLachlin, and The Allman Brothers. Hence has toured the country with Jackie Greene sharing stages with artists such as Bo Diddley, Pinetop Perkins, Dave Mason, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Dave Alvin, Susan Tedeschi, The Doobie Brothers, George Thorogood, The Derek Trucks Band, John Hiatt, Jonny Lang, Solomon Burke, Sonny Landreth, Huey Lewis, Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, and many other national acts.
In November, 2025, Hence traveled to Nashville to record 10 of his songs with Grand Ole Opry music director Kerry Marx producing. The resulting album "Heaven or Nashville" was recorded at the Parlor Studio on music row with some of the top session players in music city. It was realesed to streaming platforms on March 5, 2026. (see links below)
Hence is currently playing dates in Northern California with singer/songwriter Steven Gregory in West Coast Turnaround.