Daily Inspiration: Meet Phil Profitt

Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Profitt. 

Hi Phil, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I played music as a teenager and into my 30s, mostly rock n roll. I always wrote my own songs and was the lead singer, and I played at guitar. I knew a few chords, so I made it work. Most of the musicians I have worked with have preferred playing original music. Like most writers, I always found it harder to learn other people’s songs. Too many rules. I ended up taking a long break from playing music with any seriousness. I had a family and that took all my attention for quite a few years. It was about 2015 that I started to get back into playing music and picked up the guitar again. It would be a couple more years before I would write a song, though. Getting back into playing got me back into listening to music – now a little older and sober, the words started to come out. I got more serious about playing guitar. I began to study music. At this point, I discovered that I had a knack for writing country music. Not modern “country” music, but the more traditional style of honky tonk. As a kid, if my dad wasn’t listening to Elvis, he was listening to Conway Twitty, George Jones, and Merle Haggard. Those themes and stories were hitting home for me at this point in my life. In 2019 I put together the band that I believed would revive the glory days of the honky tonk glitter of country music and Phil Profitt and His Fast Fortunes was born. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We came out of the gate fast in late 2019. We did an open mic at a little joint in Hamtramck and brought the house down. The band and I were so surprised at the reaction we got. I hadn’t played in front of a crowd in years. We had a blast. Going into early 2020 we did a couple local gigs around Detroit, and then did the Hamtramck Music Festival. We were getting such a great response I was getting calls for bookings. We were booked through the summer, and I hadn’t made a single call to get a gig myself since the open mic! It was pretty amazing, and we were excited to get this thing off the ground. We had so much momentum so quickly it was hard to believe. I got booked to open for country music writing legend Billy Don Burns on March 20th, 2020. I was so excited about the opportunity, I postponed my 50th birthday plans to go to the desert and drive from Las Vegas to Palm Springs. On March 16th that year the world started to shut down and with that, all the momentum was gone. We spent a few month trying to figure out how we could even see each other to play but finally decided to go into the studio. It took some time, but we cut the first record Turnin’ Right. We didn’t play live again until June of 2021. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When I started this outfit, I was as interested in the performance as I was the music. Looking at my influences, Buck Owens, Dale Watson, and Merle Haggard… of course, the music is good. The performance is great, but the showmanship is what sets it apart. The matching suits. Sparkly guitars. Jokes. It’s a full package. I think of myself more as an entertainer than a musician. I like to pull the audience into our show like the old heroes. I hope that what people might say is that they have fun at my shows. They don’t just get to listen to good music or see a good band, but they are entertained by what I have to offer. I am comfortable in front of an audience, and I like to make people feel like they are part of my experience. If I’m known for anything I hope, it’s that I am an entertainer. I’m proud of putting together a group of musicians that my not have any experience playing country music but became, what I like to call, a dangerous (country music) band. Our live show is what really sets us apart. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Doing more than my parents did. 

Contact Info:

• Website: profittsfastfortunes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/profitts_fastfortunes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profittsfastfortunes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@philprofittandhisfastfortu8935
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/philip-profitt?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing 

Image Credits
Chuck Marshall
Jason Oberlieson
Chad Cochran