Having grown up listening to the Beatles, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and all of their musical descendants, Bill Phelan has a special attachment to harmony singing and the sound of a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. Starting in high school and continuing through law school, Bill played guitar and sang in the local Baltimore band, Hoi Polloi, which specialized in guitars and harmonies.

In the mid-1970s, the members of Hoi Polloi plus a keyboard player became a prog rock band, Elf Park. That band played its own original music, employing dual guitars and three-part harmonies that were a rarity among the Baltimore progressive genre. In 1979, Bill joined with two college friends in Wry Whiskey, which featured two acoustic guitars and bass, with all three members singing. Eventually, Wry Whiskey turned to an all-Irish repertoire, playing for several years at the Cat’s Eye Pub on the Baltimore waterfront and the now-defunct McGinn’s.

After Wry Whiskey ended, Bill continued playing traditional music in Tara. The band was inspired by groups like The Dubliners, Planxty, The Clancy Brothers, The Tannahill Weavers and Silly Wizard and sought to play both songs and instrumentals, rather than concentrate on one or the other, like many Irish music groups. In addition, the group’s three-part harmonies set them apart from most other Irish music bands. The band played mainly at the Cat’s Eye and McGinn’s and, after many personnel changes (mostly additions), Tara continues today.

In late 1988, the members of Tara joined forces with another singing guitarist, to form Bad Neighbors. After adding drums, the group began performing at the Cat’s Eye and other venues around Baltimore, playing “Classic Rock (the kind you like).” A main feature of the band is its harmony singing. Bad Neighbors plays regularly, mainly at their home base, the Cat’s Eye Pub. As of March, 2017, the band had played 648 shows, with 325 at the Cat’s Eye Pub.

While the 12-string guitar has made limited appearances in the Irish bands, three-part harmonies and the 12-string are common threads featured in these endeavors. Bill’s 2017 recording, “Passage West” is the product of all of these influences – a collection of mostly Irish, mostly traditional songs and tunes, sung with plenty of harmony, and produced with a modern sensibility but also a true respect for the music and the tradition. For the future, Bill is working on a collection of Hoi Polloi original songs, a set of original songs that were never played in Hoi Polloi, and a collection of classic country songs with the Bad Neighbors side project, The Wheels. Bill also plays 6- and 12-string guitars, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, lap steel and tin whistle on recordings by the R.J. Phillips Band and by OHO.