Bill Filipiak

Bill Filipiak has spent a lifetime working alongside other artists and songwriters, including several years as a producer with the famed Grand Ole Opry. Each experience has provided him with renewed inspiration and influence.

“I'm a rhythm guitarist first and foremost,” Filipiak says. “I’m a sucker for a great groove and a simple rhythmic focal point that makes your head bob. I’m a true believer in the less is more theory and have often removed elements from a mix that I felt were getting in the way of the simplistic beauty of a particular track.”

Throughout his journey, music has always been a constant for Filipiak. As a kid, he was obsessed with the eclectic set of 45-rpm vinyl singles he inherited from his older sisters—records by the Stones & Small Faces, Bubble Puppy & The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings and so many others. A natural, young Bill learned the piano by ear at age three and went on to play keys and guitar in bands throughout high school and college. “As long as I can remember, I was just enamored with music,” he says. “My sister was playing The Doors’ ‘Hello, I Love You,’ I heard it and that was my first word —“hello.” Most kids sleep with their stuffed animals—I slept with my records. I promise I’m not making that up. I still have them to this day.”

When he finally struck out on his own, Bill ended up working in radio, including a stint recreating popular tracks piece-by-piece for on-air parodies, an excellent musical education. Years down the road, as his career in the industry took off, he began producing music videos for Americana artists. It put him on the path to his gig at the Opry, and to the music he’s been making as a solo artist since the laidback blues-folk of his 2016 debut, Put the Top Down, or 2020’s roots-centric Brand New Me, 2021’s blues-injected Medicine I Need. Now Filipiak, at 59, continues his creative journey.