It is very encouraging how well-liked and respected Eric
Bibb has become in the blues world. He is an annual nominee on most Best-of-the-Year
lists and the International Blues Foundation honored him as Acoustic Artist of
the Year in 2013 (his album “Deeper in
the Well” was nominated too). But he states clearly on that album that he
is no traditionalist. He sings, “Music is more than rules and tradition…If I
feel it, that’s good enough for me” (in the song “Music”).
His songwriting is excellent – well crafted, written to hit
his sweet spots as a performer, full of integrity and personality. I feel like
I know the guy, though I've never met him.
“Deeper in the Well” was the first Eric Bibb album I
listened to from beginning to end. It is definitely a blues album (more so than
the other five albums I listened to in depth) and Bibb brings new structure and
chord forms to the blues tunes. The instrumentation is refreshing – fiddle,
mandolin, banjo, harp and accordion are endemic to the structure and setting of
the songs, not just guest artists taking solos. The language is plainspoken and
doesn't try to be clever. The topics of the songs generally don’t get far
outside the blues pantheon – life is good; don’t let yourself get messed up on
drugs; life is what you make it; life has ups and downs; she’s so fine. But nothing
is hackneyed and nothing sounds like an overused phrase that was stuck in the
verse just because he needed a rhyme.
Most of the original songs have a modern outlook and some have
interesting twists and mechanisms. On “In My Time” Eric tells us how his
personal life has ups and downs. He pairs up opposites to show how his life has
gone and you get the sense that it was all good. He’s been treated like a boss/like
a boy; like a tramp/like a star. Lived fast/taken it easy. Played in Paris, Rome /on front porch back
home. Ridden in Bentleys/on a mule. Great detail, cinematic in places and all
with a ring of truth. Once his
credentials are established Eric gives us his advice - Best thing you can do is
be a faithful friend.
In “Music” Bibb takes music snobs to task. He pokes fun at
people who need to categorize music before they can decide whether to like it.
“Like looking at the labels on the faucet tap before they can tell if the
water’s hot!” Beautiful!
There are four songs written by others 1, one
co-write and two traditional songs. A very satisfying recording and I recommend
it as a good first experience for people who are new to Eric Bibb.
As I listened further, I realized that Bibb is primarily a
gospel singer. He describes his music on 2008’s “Get on Board” as "a
further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and
soul." That’s a good description of all the stuff I listened to, especially
the emphasis on “further exploration”. Eric Bibb makes new cloth out of the well-worn
garments he has lived in for years.
He shows his blues chops on “Blues Ballads and Work Songs”
(2011) – a compilation of mostly traditional songs recorded between 2005 and
2011. But Gospel is the center of Eric Bibb’s songwriting – redemption, faith,
courage, perseverance, life is what you make it, get on board, a new and better
life awaits. Bibb’s Godfather is Paul Robeson; his father is Leon Bibb, a
prominent African-American folk musician of the 50’s and 60’s.
Bibb released albums in 1977 and 1980, and then there is a
gap until 22 albums since 1997. Many albums have lyric or subject themes (e.g.
freedom and Martin Luther King on “Blues People”) or a thematic vibe (e.g. “Deeper
In The Well”) that comes from the instrumentation and overall feel of the
playing.
Eric Bibb lived in Finland for many years. I will guess that
he developed his music in relative isolation from any particular music scene –
I’m thinking about folk, blues, gospel music communities that might have drawn
him to center on a particular genre and adopt its definitions and rules. He
goes his own way and does not limit himself to the boundaries on any particular
genre. I thought it interesting that on “Blues Ballads and Work Songs” the
original tunes were much less bluesy-folky than the covers. I was surprised
(end encouraged!) that the album the IBF voted as acoustic blues album of the
year in 2011 (“Troubadour Live”) does not contain a single traditional 12-bar
blues.2
Comments on some specific songs that taught me something as
a blues songwriter.
The album “Jericho Road” was released in 2013. Check out With
My Maker I Am One. It is a very 21st-century blues lyric, set into a
timeless gospel theme. The singer takes on 24 different roles of characters
doing their thing – Okie, landlord, junkie, slave, juke stomper, banker, candy
man, movie star and states “…with my
Maker I am One”. It does have the
traditional blues themes of life has its ups and downs or life is what you make
it, but the roles themselves are a mixture of modern and blues stereotype.
“An Evening with Eric Bibb” (2007) has a couple of songs I found
notable. To Know You is a
straight-forward positive love song, heartfelt and eschewing the traditional “she’s
so fine” attitude. I wish there were more positive love songs in blues music. Shingle By Shingle is another great 21st-century
lyric dealing with a traditional blues topic – life is what you make it – as he
patches the roof, piece by piece.
Eric Bibb is a staple on every blues curator’s playlist that
I looked at, including the internationally syndicated programs. He deserves
much more mainstream radio play in the USA. I hope that happens a lot in 2015 –
the year of the blues songwriter!
Notes.
1. Including a lovely song by Harrison Kennedy (Could Be You, Could Be Me) that makes me
want to explore Harrison’s music as soon as I've finished typing this post.
2. I am defining “traditional 12- (or 8-) bar blues” as
having only I, IV and V chords. And certainly not a II major (even though Robert
Johnson’s version of Love In Vain kind
of does).
