GIBSON BROTHERS CONCERT: #2

Last night my dear wife and I went to a Gibson Brothers concert over in Rock Hall, Maryland. We have seen this band several times and they are (obviously) one of our favorites of all time. In the past I have written reviews of their performances and albums but I have always been more of the gushing fan. This time I want to write a serious review as if I were a real music critic. (As if!) So be prepared for some serious pedantry and esoteric information all wrapped up in a critical review.

The Gibson Brothers and their band are known primarily in the world of bluegrass music although they are not strict conformists to the genre. Hardcore bluegrass fans may like a great deal of the songs that the Gibson’s perform but they would not consider them to be of the same caliber as the Del McCoury Band, Blue Highway or the Osborne Brothers. The Gibson’s have a unique place in the genre somewhere between the avant garde bluegrass music of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and more traditional stylists such as Dan Tyminski and his various groups. I think of the Gibsons as being in their own niche; singer/songwriters who do bluegrass, traditional country and even new folk music. They are unique.

To assess a live performance of a band such as the Gibson Brothers one needs to ask a few basic questions. Did the band take full advantage of the characteristics of the venue? Did the band provide music to satisfy their long standing fans? Likewise, did the band provide music to win over the doubters in the audience, especially the hardcore bluegrass types? Did the pacing of the show fit the mood of the audience? Were songs played spanning the entire career of the group? And finally, was the band technically proficient as well as entertaining?

I’ll tackle the last question first. The Gibson Brothers band is as technically proficient as any group playing in bluegrass today. Eric Gibson is a solid banjo player who tends to understate his lines. But when called to the front for solo riffs he is an excellent player and showman. Leigh Gibson on flattop guitar is also a solid player who can carry a solo with some of the finest in the business. But the brothers’ primary instruments are their voices, and this is where they rise above so many other musicians. The harmonies they create, as well as their own individual sounds are uniquely adapted to the songs they write and cover. They take a song and make it their own. After a listener has heard some of the work of these gifted singers he can immediately recognize a new song as being from this band. They’re original. Other members of the band supply the instrumentation that adds to the originality of the group. Mike Barber plays the stand up bass as if born to it. He lays down the rhythmic line so necessary in a group without percussion instruments. But he also adds an interesting dimension of skilled nuance and subtle musical influence. Clayton Campbell on the fiddle is an intense and gifted performer. He can play the dazzling solo or the romantic background line of a soft ballad with equal skill and feeling. And Joe Walsh, mandolinist, has added a new dimension to the band’s driving sound. Joe has been with the group for about ten or eleven months but he sounds as if he was there for years. He is an amazing player, always in the moment, and always contributing in just the right way. This band is a musical powerhouse, technically and artistically.

Last night’s concert took place at the Mainstay, a small town store building that has been rather haphazardly converted into a theater. There is a small stage at the back of the room with a collection of various kinds of seating set up in rows all the way to the front of the building. The seating is eclectic ranging from wicker couches to dining room chairs to folding chairs that may have come from a funeral home. The room is very good acoustically and the lines of sight are all pretty good. Intimacy between the performers and the audience is impossible to avoid due to the small size of the place. Eric and Leigh share the duties of announcing the songs and interacting with the audience. These guys are genuine, nice people. They treat their audience with respect and love. The audience responds in kind. When they came into the room they looked around and said “this is our kind of place” and they used it like it was their living room at home.

The play list for the concert consisted of about twenty vocal numbers and three hard driving instrumentals. Seven songs were from their most recent album and the rest were culled from five older CDs. Story songs, love songs, gospel and traditional bluegrass and country were all represented. Both brothers write with a strong poetic sense about the people, places and things from their youth and experience. They joke about having the corner on the market for songs about the people and places of Franklin and Clinton Counties in northern New York. While that may be true, every one of their songs about that area is understood and identifiable to their entire audience because they are songs of the people. A beautiful anthem to the farm they grew up on, “Farm of Yesterday” is typical of the poetic pieces they write. “Iron and Diamonds” a song about miners and baseball in a small town reaches into the experience of hard working people from near their hometown. This song, incidentally, has been nominated for IBMA song of the year for 2009. They played a railroad song, a mountain song, a couple of gospel songs and even a song about a psychotic homeless guy called “Ragged Man”. They played cover songs from Tom Petty and The Band. So their concert satisfied their oldest fans and the folks who had never been to a Gibson Brothers show.

When it came to winning over the more entrenched bluegrass fans in the audience the Gibsons turned to three very strong, extremely upbeat instrumental pieces. I didn’t record the names of each piece (bad form for a music critic, I know) but they each kicked butt in a serious bluegrass way. Also “I Know Whose Tears”, “Mountain Song”, “Two Dollar Bill” and “Satan’s Jeweled Crown” showed the considerable bluegrass chops of the whole band.

The brothers paced their show to the mood of the audience mixing upbeat and slower songs in a masterful way. They took some requests and had some extremely funny brother to brother verbal exchanges. (By the way Maryland does not have an official state rodent but New York has the beaver.) Before the show, during intermission and after the program the brothers and the other members of the band mingled with the audience, willingly signing autographs and posing for photos. Did I say they were nice guys; well it bears repeating.

So there you have a serious review of the Gibson Brothers concert. It still sounds like a fan letter I guess. But I like good music delivered by good people and these guys are the real deal. Buy their CDs from Amazon or Compass Records online because you probably won’t find them in a lot of record stores, although I have seen some in Border’s and Barnes & Noble. If they come anywhere near your town go to see them. You’ll have a great time. Let me know if you’re going and I’ll probably join you. Yes I’ll buy my own dang ticket.

Have a fine day.