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 Eric Bibb may be the greatest blues artist who is not a household name in the United States. His songwriting and records over the past fifty years have few peers. Some of this may be due to the fact that Bibb, a New York City native, has lived in Sweden for over five decades. He grew up the son of a folk singer during the heyday of that music in Greenwich Village specifically and the world in general. It couldn’t help but seep in. Bibb continues to be a keen observer of the political world and the human condition. He’s a storyteller, a troubadour, a truth teller. He finds ways to wade in deep water without going under.
To understand Eric Bibb is to know the backstory. His father was Leon Bibb, a musical theater singer, who also performed folk and blues. His uncle was pianist John Lewis from the Modern Jazz Quartet. His godfather was the legendary Paul Robeson. You can’t make it up.
“I met Dylan in my own living room when I was eleven. That’s how close that whole world was and that’s how close I was to it, through my dad. I was hooked from the very beginning with this music. I started playing guitar when I was 7, started learning Odetta songs when I was 9. I kept being led to the next step in this whole baptism and this river of song. I met incredible people. I saw Son House when I was 14 at Newport. I’m aware how blessed I am, when it comes to nurturing my love of this music. I’ve been presented with gift after gift. I’ve been able to collaborate with my heroes and sheroes. When I reflect on my own career, and I don’t do that too often because I’m still busy, when I realize who I’ve met and been influenced by, I’m kind of amazed.”
The three-time Grammy Award nominee has had a front row seat for history. The Forrest Gump of the Blues.
“Exactly, it’s funny you say that. When I was at Newport at age 14, there weren’t too many little guys who looked like me. It was another kind of crowd, another demographic. There I was at an after party and Dylan is sitting on the steps in a gray top hat and then I read about it decades later and realize, I was there.”
Bibb has subsequently covered several Bob Dylan songs over the years and brought certain aspects of his craft into his own work.
“Even though I have not delved into forms and his use of language that is on another tier, there is a side of Dylan that I can relate to very strongly as a songwriter. Some of the best songs on Slow Train Coming remind me of stuff that I could have written. One of my absolute favorites songs of Dylan’s is not that well known, it’s called “Percy’s Song”. It was one of the outtakes from one of his first albums, great song. His simpler stuff on Blood On The Tracks, that reminds me of my kind of songwriting. His advice to me when I was very young to keep it simple resonates louder and louder for me. I find myself going for simpler song forms, even simpler harmonies. Focusing on songs that would have been more in the realm of Leadbelly’s repertoire. Simpler stuff. That is happening with age. That advice is kicking in.”
Those experiences gave Bibb a certain fearlessness and worldliness that belied his age. Like Dylan, Bibb traveled east.
“I lit out for Europe with my guitar at age 19, stayed in Paris and met some Swedish friends who enticed me to Sweden. It wasn’t my first visit. I actually had a preview. I was in Sweden when I was 13 with my whole family on a trip. We stopped in Stockholm on our way back from Moscow and I remembered the beautiful city.”
Despite living in Sweden for over 50 years, he has been able to maintain a remarkable authenticity and sensibility when it comes to the Delta blues style.
“What I think it comes down to is a deep love of the language. That particular way of singing, talking, playing. Expressing your life’s philosophy was so attractive to me from such an early age. When I moved away from the States, I encountered people who had serious record collections of this music. Because I was also homesick, I kind of marinated my soul. It only deepened with the years. It was my way of making sure that me personally and listeners didn’t forget a language that’s marvelous.”
Having a singer and performer as a father was obviously a huge influence on Eric, but he didn’t follow the same exact musical path.
“My dad grew up in Louisville, Kentucky singing in the church, singing spirituals. He wasn’t in holy roller zone. This is AME church, pretty said singing. He was in huge admiration of Roland Hayes, who was an operatically trained African American singer, who sang spirituals and all of that. My aunt who played piano for him said, ‘If you keep at it Leon, one day you could be the next Roland Hayes.’ I think it evolved to him wanting to be a performer on Broadway. He came to New York and auditioned. He was in Annie Get Your Gun with Ethel Merman. I think he was frustrated ultimately at not getting the parts he felt he was capable of handling, consigned to the chorus often. Being African American, it was sort of like that.”
As a result, Leon Bibb started to branch out into folk music, which led to other opportunities. He released ten albums between 1959-1970. With time, Eric has been able to see the similarities, differences, and influences.
“He was in a group called The Skifflers. Pete Seeger was an early friend. (Harry) Belafonte was around. Josh White was around. My dad was in that circle of people who were really making sure that the great American folk music was going to stay with us and last for generations. He was a trained singer. I was never that good at being a trained singer. My leanings were certainly more folky. My voice and the limitations of my singing suited another kind of repertoire. I was listening to my dad’s Columbia recording of (Leonard) Bernstein’s ‘They Call The Wind Maria’ from West Side Story. An amazingly beautiful rendition. His range was amazing at that time, something I could have never sung. However, I do hear my dad’s voice in my own voice. It’s a timbre thing, a genetic thing, that fact that I listened to his rehearsals as a kid lying in bed. So, his voice was imprinted very early…a huge influence. Being an urban Northeasterner, the fact that I embraced southern blues, early country blues…that would not have been my father’s aspiration to be a singer of Delta blues. That was too close to a past and history that he was moving steadily away from. But we’ve met, that’s the funny thing. Even though he was a trained singer and around sophisticated intellectuals in New York City’s Bohemian heaven, his roots shone through. He was a southern man. I could hear it in his voice, even though his elocution had changed. In that way I feel like we’ve connected at a core place.”
Leon and Eric would collaborate on the album A Family Affair in 2002 and another in 2006 as a tribute to Paul Robeson. Robeson was a force of nature. He was a true renaissance man: a college All-American and NFL football player, a singer, a political activist, a lawyer, an actor, a famous and controversial figure.
“I have a photo of him holding me in one arm and my twin sister in his other arm at my baptism…when he became my godfather. However, his influence, in terms of his philosophy, political leanings, and ethical stance about justice, that was a permanent building block in my whole formation of personality. Paul was, for my dad, a huge light, a mentor and as such, Paul’s music, interviews, the magazines, that was all in my home. Paul was there. A big influence. The space that Paul Robeson takes up in my pantheon is huge compared to the amount of time I actually spent with him.”
The 74-year-old Bibb is about to release a new album, One Mississippi, which comes out January 29. He will be touring Europe and Australia to support it. He didn’t have a preconceived notion of what the record would be.
“Those things don’t usually end up like a firmed-up plan or idea from the conception, that evolves. I was invited with my wife (Ulrika), who’s also a wonderful singer, to participate in a tribute concert to Janis Ian, which she organized and was part of in Dublin. She wasn’t singing because her voice is kaput, but she wanted her favorite musicians to sing her songs, so she called me. Scouting through her back catalog of songs, I was looking for something that I could really wrap my paws around, that really showed her skills as a songwriter but also reflected my particular roots. This song ‘One Mississippi’ stuck out from the title and when I listened to it, the poetry and the sublime way that they’re painting a portrait of a time and a place through a whole span of time was fascinating. I just thought without beating your head against the wall or preaching or moralizing, you’re painting a picture of the brutal history, painting a picture of the romantic history, the music. I just thought, wow, great song, I’m going to learn it and sing it and I did. The audience response was so positive I thought, I must record this. When I did record it, I realized that many of the songs we were considering for the album were sort of in that Mississippi zone. There’s a song that refers to Emmett Till. So, I just thought, perfect title, it’s going to grab people. People are going to think, ‘One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four.’ They’re going to think of all kinds of things because the word conjures up so much, especially in the blues world.”
One of the new singles “Muddy Waters” is a mid-tempo bayou blues growler, complete with slide guitar, harp, and foot stomping that honors the Mount Rushmore of the blues hero.
“I saw Muddy Waters live here in Sweden in the 70s. He was part of the big American folk blues festival. I saw a lot of wonderful people here in Europe live. Like everybody, we have so much to thank him for.”
Another single off the new album is a funky novelty song “This One Don’t”. On it, Bibb can’t help but observe the current landscape:
Turn to the left, turn to the right/Tell me, what do you see/A whole lot of folks getting all riled up/Not a one simple thing can they agree
An hour-long conversation with the sage songwriter is a luxury in learning about the man and determining his world view, but really any listener to his records can discern where he’s coming from. The recent single “If You’re Free” is a meditation on life and a mindset self-check:
If you got food on your table, gas in the tank/Roof overhead, money in the bank/Tell me you’re grateful as anyone can be/cause there’s many people living in misery.
I know if you’re living in a country, free to speak your mind/If you’re free to disagree, with the party line/Consider yourself blessed with hard-won liberty/cause there’s plenty of people longing to be free.
 It is difficult for most artists to continue to stay fresh and measure up to their past successes and level of quality decades into their careers. Bibb has done that with his latest record.
“This is, in my estimation, my most complete portrait of the kinds of music that I love listening to, love writing. What I’m really thrilled about when it comes to this particular album, and I’ve worked with this wonderful producer Glen Scott for decades and we always enjoy what we do, but this album has a groove factor, a dance-ability that’s new. My songs are groovy, but we really leaned hard on that funky side on certain tracks. I’m really happy. Like Alice Walker said, ‘Hard times require furious dancing.’ We’ve got to groove on.”
Despite the geographic distance from many of his friends, Bibb is a serial collaborator. He did a terrific record in 2004 with Rory Block and Maria Muldaur, Sisters and Brothers. In 2012, he released an African-vibed album with Habib Koite called Brothers In Bamako. In 2014, he did Blues Detour (Live) with Ale Moller and Knut Reiersrud. He wrote a children’s book Banjo Man with his old guitarist, illustrator Brian Kramer. He did a duet record called Friends in 2004, that included the likes of Guy Davis, Taj Mahal, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster, Odetta, and more. Game respects game. He specifically enjoyed a recent meeting with guitar ace Eric Gales.
“Eric Gales, I just love. There’s nobody who plays like that way anymore. He’s his own virtuoso. He’s cut new paths in guitar music. I was a huge fan of him before I met him. We (producer Glen Scott) just thought he’d be wonderful for this track. We decided we were going to take a big leap and call him to tell him to meet us in New York. We flew from Sweden to New York, to a great studio in New Jersey. Eric was there, Steve Jordan was there, Tommy Sims, it was a great session.”
On his 2021 masterpiece, Dear America, Bibb invited the most recorded bass player of all time to play along, The Maestro, Ron Carter.
“One of the many things I thank my dad for was personally introducing me to a caliber of musician that sends a message, just because of who they are, that sends a message about their regard for music, a message about what they can accomplish. In that way my dad was an amazing teacher. At 16, he hired me to be the guitarist in his television show house band and the bass player was Ron Carter. We haven’t had all that much contact during the ensuing years, but lately when we decided we needed to have Ron grace a certain tune on a previous album, that kind of reconnected us. I’ve since seen him several times, most recently here in Stockholm at a club where he had a gig. That caliber of musician and human being that Ron Carter is, together with his music, it’s like a masterclass in the whole thing.”
At 88 years old, Carter continues to record and tour the world at an amazing rate. Will Bibb endeavor to do the same?
“The only excuse I have is, I would love to be able to spend more time with my grandkids, time that I didn’t spend with my kids, because like Ron I was traipsing around the world. So, it’s a balance. But Mavis (Staples) is 86, she’s still doing it. It humbles you and makes you question your own decisions.”
Bibb is a special kind of blues artist. He has stories to tell, history to share. In 2004, he teamed with Martin Simpson on a cover of Guy Clark’s touching song “The Cape”. One can certainly hear the influence of Texas’s classic storytellers like Clark in Bibb’s music.
“The whole troubadour, singer-songwriter thing was a big part of my folk music upbringing. Start with Woody Guthrie, Tom Paxton is there, Eric Anderson is there, Doc Watson is there. So, I’m in Nashville at a music fair…on the floor and I think I had Harmony guitar that somebody wanted me front. I look up and I see Guy Clark, Happy Traum, and John Sebastian standing together, looking at me and checking me out. After my set, I’m walking around with John Sebastian looking at Collins guitars and he’s telling me how he used to hang out with Yank Rachell and how he learned a certain guitar lick from Yank. Then I started talking to Guy and he says, ‘Listen man, I’m playing the Bluebird tomorrow, come by.’ And I came by the Bluebird Café, I’m sitting there entranced listening to Guy sing and he says, ‘Folks there’s a new guy in town. I’d like you to hear him, his name is Erib Bibb’. And he gives me his guitar. OK?! The next day I go to his house…I go down to his workshop and he’s making a classical guitar. So, we’re talking about songwriting and he starts to play some cassettes and says, ‘Here’s a song that a friend of mine wrote, he wanted some advice on how to finish it and I told him it was finished. I think it would work for you, so take it home and if it does, it does, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.’ And I did, it’s a wonderful song called ‘Circles’ which I recorded on an earlier album, a wonderful young writer. I spent that afternoon with Guy Clark, to me it’s unforgettable. The fact that I’ve met these people and had close contact and near encounters is amazing to me. Yes, Guy is a huge influence. In my later years, after becoming aware of him, I realized that the storytelling part of my whole heritage is really important to me. All kinds of stories. I tend to lean towards historical stories because I think the historical record is being expunged of vital stuff. It’s a scary, scary phenomenon. So, if I write a story about what I know is going to be ripped out of some pages, at least it’s there. The whole storytelling thing and the way Guy did it, he was a master. That whole crowd, all those guys, Lyle (Lovett) and Townes (Van Zandt), it’s a fascinating group of people.”
Some threads through Bibb’s music over the years are the concepts of justice, peace, truth, and liberty, concepts that are now in danger.
 “Like many people, even though I’ve been aware of American attitudes and politics and trends and movements and been involved on a deep level for so long, I’m still appalled and amazed where it’s gotten to. I never thought I would see a head of state speaking in that manner. It seems to be an indication of a real moral crisis. To have a leader to speak in that way and people accept it is indicative of a crisis. But that crisis is something that’s been predicted. I think we’re at the end of a cycle. I think we’re going to evolve beyond this, but I think it’s going to culminate in more chaotic madness. That’s the only way I can see it and have that hope that you mentioned, because if I see it in that cyclical way, it means that there will be a resurgence of right thinking and right acting. That will lead to that utopian world that has kept people moving along progressive lines for decades. I cannot give up. As absurd as it is, I think people before us have endured and come through amazing chaotic situations, unimaginable for us. So, I think we’re going to stay with it. I think music at this point has an insanely vital role, especially with the advent of A.I. stuff. We need the real deal more than anything, that real communication and that real thread that comes from way back. People were working together for the right things and singing together and coming together. It might have been a microcosmic world, but it still told you what was possible and that’s the world that I grew up in. So, I’m there. I believe we’ll survive and thrive, but it’s going to be a haul.”
Today’s artists will have to help carry the load. Bibb is bullish on the next generation’s talent and willingness to do so.
“When it comes to younger musicians who are covering a very new space with taking older country blues forms and keeping them contemporary, I think of Jontavious Willis, excellent player, excellent singer. I think of a masterful musician who’s taken the baton from somebody like Fats Waller, Jerron Paxton, he’s excellent. He’s doing that older form of stride piano. He’s a wonderful player. Buffalo Nichols, he’s also a fine player with a lot of heart and soul. I haven’t seen Corey (Harris) in a while, I haven’t seen Alvin Youngblood Hart for a while, but I love them both. There are some ladies coming up. More and more African American younger musicians too. Taj Mahal has a lot to say about his influence. I’m sure he’s aware that many of us have followed a path that he hacked out. It’s wonderful to see so many younger players interested in this movement. When it comes to the kind of music that Buddy Guy is playing, there’s wonderful Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, great player and singer. For all of the cartoonization of the blues that does happen and has happened since the early days, it happened in the race record era, but for all of that, the music is so real and so deep that it has a staying power and an attraction, a magnetism, that I think will keep going. As long as people have access to the real deal and they do, the internet makes that possible. So, there’s no excuse for letting the blues die.”
Bibb is under no delusions about how hard it is to make it as a working musician, but he encourages a direction that could ensure success.
“I think a lot about younger musicians. We’re being infringed upon in many ways, not getting their fair due. This A.I. stuff coming along and crowding the charts. But the good news about all of that is that I think there will be a definite longing for that real contact, that real energy that you cannot fake that happens between human beings when they’re in the same room, vibrating to the same music. There’s something that you cannot quantify. I think that’s going to become be very apparent. The key to a good music life is staying real. Not being swayed by flavor of the month trends and likes. This whole digital world can really distort your whole way of perceiving who you are as an artist. Stay close to the café life that produced this music. Get in touch with real people. Keep it real.”
Writer Dave Popkin is a Music News Reporter for WBGO FM in Newark/New York. He is a regional judge for The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge and is a singer in the NJ-based band, Porch Rockers.
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