The Long Road
After more than four
decades in music, Eric Bibb shows that he’s far from being done.
By Samuel J. Fell
One
of the absolute joys of music, is discovering something new. You’ve got your
favourites, you know them well, you’re constantly drawn back to them, again and
again. But when you stumble across something you’ve not heard before, something
that ticks all the boxes your regulars do, that’s a fine moment – something
else to get drawn back to time and again, something that soon becomes one of
the aforementioned favourites, that gets you excited all over again.
Eric
Bibb was one of those finds for me. It was his 2006 record, Diamond Days, that began the love affair
– the wistful ‘Tall Cotton’, the grin-inducing ‘Shine On’ and ‘Storybook Hero’,
the rollicking ‘In My Father’s House’, and my all time favourite Bibb song, ‘Dr
Shine’, with its jaunty melody, an old blues for new times. From Diamond Days, I became a convert, and
via Get Onboard (’08), Booker’s Guitar (’10), Blues, Ballads & Work Songs (’11)
and Deeper In The Well (’12), Bibb
has become one of my favourites.
One
thing surprised me about him though, not long after I ‘discovered’ him. To my
mind, here was a young blues-folkster just getting into his stride. He was
American-born but based in Europe, and so here I was thinking he’d only
recently begun his musical journey, somewhere on the other side of the world.
Imagine my surprise then, when I was researching prior to the first time I
interviewed him, to find Bibb had been releasing records and touring, sharing
his songs with people from all corners of the globe, since 1972.
But
it made sense after a bit of thought. Because this music I’d been listening to
had this worldly quality about it, this depth and wisdom that one doesn’t
acquire unless one has lived it for a long time. Bibb was born in 1951, and so
he’s not old as such, but his music carries a weight that comes with
experience. Once I’d come to this realisation, I began to wonder why I’d not
gotten on to him before; I counted myself lucky that’d I’d got there
eventually, finding this man and his music some four decades into his career.
“I
do,” he laughs when we catch up once more, when I ask him if he ever thinks
about how long he’s been doing this, and whether or not he stops occasionally
and says, ‘Wow!’. “The last decade or so has been a real sharp curve upwards
[though]. I’ve spent a lot of time making music, trying to figure out what kind
of artist I am, in the earlier days… the last decade or so has been intense
touring and recording, and I realise that the distance I’ve come is a good bit
of mileage.
“Basically,
I’m amazed that I’ve been able to realise so many of my musical dreams. I was
talking about that last night with some friends – I’ve had a chance to
collaborate with some of my heroes: Pops and Mavis Staples, Taj Mahal, I’ve
recorded with the late, great Wilson Pickett, Hubert Sumlin from Howlin’ Wolf’s
band, I mean, the list just goes on and on, [sometimes it’s like], ‘Is this
really true?’. So yeah, I’m grateful.”
...
For the full version of this story, check out the January issue of Rhythms Magazine.
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