MUSIC

McGonigel's Mucky Duck presents Shawn Phillips.

You might not recognize Shawn Phillips’s name, but you’ve heard his impact. He helped Joni Mitchell learn guitar and gave George Harrison sitar lessons. He sang on the Beatles’ “Lovely Rita (Meter Maid)” from their “Sgt. Pepper’s” album. He hung out with the Greenwich Village crowd in the heyday of Hardin, Havens, van Ronk and Dylan; and shared living space in London with Donovan and Paul Simon. He performed at Britain’s pivotal Isle of Wight concert. He was initially cast to play the lead in the original “Jesus Christ Superstar,” though he ended up not doing the role.

And all that isn’t even counting his own music, some 20 albums’ worth of mesmerizing, haunting vocals and guitar work — plus other projects, like a ballet called “Events in the Life of a Prince.” The late rock promoter Bill Graham called him “the best-kept secret in the music business.”

“I’d like to rectify that situation!” said Phillips, who will appear in concert Saturday, June 6, at Harmony House, 58 E. Main St., as part of the Heartland Concerts series.

“It’s a bit difficult, I don’t know how to put it — there’s some people who make music that kind of washes over you and just serves as background of your life. I try to make music that gets your attention,” Phillips said in a phone interview Tuesday. “What I do is, I try to take my experiences in life, and I try to articulate my experiences.”

The Texas-born troubadour, son of author Philip Atlee (James Atlee Phillips), also tries to use a full command of the English language, corresponding to his wide vocal range. There aren’t a lot of singer-songwriters who’ll use “lightning slaying shadows” and “spittle-smattered son of man” in a song (as in his “Whaz Zat”). He said he’s particularly fond of these lines from his 2005 song “Ascent”: