“I really do savor the privilege and gift of being able to meet people all around the world and experience their culture, seeing what is common and what is unique about them. I enjoy meeting people who I feel belong to a similar tribe whether they are in Australia or Finland. The people that I tend to meet at my gigs would (probably) get along famously at a summer camp. They tend to be like minded and like hearted and that is gratifying in a world that is rife with all kinds of divisiveness, tribalism and things that are tearing things apart. It is a great inspiration to me. I have always felt that I belong to a world culture and that has a lot to do with my upbringing and my parents,” says Bibb.

That same world community has increasingly become a fan of Bibb’s music. He has garnered one Grammy nomination and four W.C. Handy nominations (now the Blues Music Awards). His music has been featured on both American and British television shows.  A look at his itinerary included 2006 gigs throughout Europe and the United States, while this March he has a month long tour of Australia, followed by stops during the month of April in America and several gigs in Canada.  

Bibb theorizes as to why his music has become so popular, “The (style of) music is not only a powerful wonderful sound but it is very accessible to people around the world for a couple of reasons. The English language is universal and people have been exposed to it for a long time so it is halfway familiar even if it isn’t their mother tongue. The music is (also) where Africa met the new world and produced music from America, blues and jazz music. It is a fascinating collision of musical cultures. Due to the slave, experience there is a message about survival that is universal. A concentrated spirit, positive attitude and a will to celebrate something glorious (exist) despite all the brutal conditions. That is something that speaks to everybody and resonates with people everywhere,” says Bibb.

The very person of Bibb and his genuine interest in the lives of people infuses his music and endears him to those he encounters. Such was the case when the song Dr Shine (Diamond Days) first began to take shape. A chance meeting with a shoeshine man in an airport provided the inspiration to the dialogue that accompanies the music. Speaking of his one time muse Bibb says, “He seemed like a really pleasant guy, his whole demeanor appealed to me and (prompted) me to ask about his background. When I went back there and played a demo of the song for him I think he was amazed that somebody would find his story important enough to write a song. I think he was a little in shock. I know that everybody has a story to tell and I am interested in those kinds of stories.” Bibb says he grew up with folk heroes like the shoeshine man.

Throughout his career, Bibb has stayed with an earthy organic sound playing his custom Fylde acoustic guitars. “What appeals to me most musically is perhaps an older way of putting together a phrase. The themes are more matched with acoustic sounds than electric (guitars). I have always played acoustic guitars and never had a burning passion to pursue playing electric (guitars) although I have many fine collaborative relationships with people who do play electric instruments. There is something about the sound of the acoustic guitar that always resonates with me.”

Bibb is not always serious however as we share a chuckle while marveling at the vocal range of Al Green. I suggest that perhaps Green’s vocal chords were genetically altered at birth and Bibb responds with, “Al Green is his own species when it comes to his way of singing.”

He describes the boastful “Storybook Hero” as being a combination of hyperbole, charming, flirtatious and chivalrous. “The chivalry in this song seems like it is from another era and reminds me of the thirties. In a lot of ways, it seems that the songs I write are directing me towards that (time). I can see the way that people would dress and the cars that they would drive. It is pictorial.  I see it like a movie. In “Storybook Hero” I can see the guy trying to interest this woman and convince her that he is worthy of her affection and love. It is a little boastful and makes me think of somebody who is trying to hold his own in a world that is not really (pulling) for him,” Bibb says in describing the story that unfolds.

Eric Bibb is someone you want to pull for because not only does he create, play and sing fabulous music but also he is one the industry’s truly nice people.

February 2007

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