Eric Bibb 2010

Interview by Joe Montague

It would seem to follow that on an album with the title Booker’s Guitar, that there would be a song with the same name, however, what is surprising about blues singer / songwriter /guitarist Eric Bibb’s new record being released today (January 26^th) is that for this particular song, the master storyteller played a guitar that once belonged to the Mississippi Delta blues iconic singer / songwriter Booker T. Washington White, who also just happened to be a cousin of B.B. King.

“A fan came up at the end of a concert and he said, ‘Thank you for your music, I’ve always appreciated what you do, and I am so glad that you are carrying on a great tradition that I have loved for years. By the way, I happen to own the guitar that used to belong to “Booker” White and if you would be interested in seeing it, and playing it, or even being photographed with it, I could meet you.’ That is the way a friendship with this person developed. The song “Booker’s Guitar,” is actually played with Booker’s guitar,” says Eric Bibb.

Eric Bibb has a penchant for paying homage to the numerous blues artists, many of them who were performing and writing early in the twentieth century, who paved the way for today’s singer / songwriters, so one cannot help but wonder what was going through his mind as he played “Booker” White’s guitar.

Demonstrating a sense of humor, Bibb says, “I didn’t levitate, I pick up a lot of guitars, colleagues’ guitars, and I go to music shops around the world and I pick up instruments, old instruments, new instruments and I almost always have daily experiences playing instruments that I do not own. This guitar (however), from the moment that I picked it up, had a sound that was just so rich, and I play a lot of vintage instruments, but this one had something special. “Booker” played this guitar a lot and it was worn, but it was in great shape. It was probably chromed again, but the headstock had all of his personal touches on it and just like the song says, taped to the side was an old set list that had probably been there for decades and decades. To see his handwriting on that set list was something. Vibrations are subtle and powerful feelings. When there are a lot of good feelings around music, people feel good. I think there were things about that instrument that had emotional residue. That’s the best way that I can describe it. I think “Booker” White would be happy about this project and certainly his friend was very happy about the way that it unfolded. Without any coercion or any stress, I was able to record it in a very slim window of time and it all worked out. The way that the project unfolded, told me that it was meant to be. I felt like I was chosen for this project, and that in itself is something that is a huge personal blessing, without getting too wired about it. It is just something that I felt I was ready for. What I have noticed in life, is that things work together and we are not as separate as we think and events are not really unconnected at all. I think that when there is such good feeling around the music that we make, we get help from another dimension to script things and to have things come together. There are a lot of examples of that kind of synchronicity at work, when you think about other people’s stories. I am so glad that Bruce Springsteen did the Seeger Sessions for example. It is another way of passing something on, something so good, that it just cannot be marginalized. Sooner or later, it has got to come to the fore, and sooner or later you have Pete Seeger singing in Washington at Obama’s inauguration and that was unthinkable a half century ago.

While Bibb acknowledges that there are many people to whom we owe a great debt in terms of preserving the heritage of so many quality blues and folk songs, he says that without Pete Seeger, we would be that much poorer in terms of the legacy that is ours to enjoy today.

Bibb says about Seeger, “He had such an incredible drive to his career and his mission was so clear to him from very early on. He has given us more than we could possibly calculate.”

Now living in Denmark, Eric Bibb is far removed from the New York City home that he once grew up in and in America, where his father Leon Bibb was revered as a folk artist. “When it comes to “Booker” White specifically, it is very possible that I first heard him in the context of growing up in a folk music home, where that music may have been around on records, but I may not have been aware of who he was. I was probably in my mid teens, when I first became aware of “Booker” White and heard some of his early recordings (such as) “Fixin’ To Die.” I heard the Dylan’s cover of that (song) and then, not very long afterwards, these guys were rediscovered; Mississippi John Hurt, Booker White and Skip James to name a few. They were on the folk circuit and I would have played the records with my friends. I remember that the record Sky Songs was a big record for “Booker” White. I saw “Son” House Jr. (blues singer / songwriter) at Newport when I was fourteen.”