OK folks, I got a new CD yesterday - first one of the year, I'm ashamed to say. There was this artist that I've heard on Outlaw Country on my beloved Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Thingy in my truck.............(I love that thing so, so, so much but that's a whole 'nother story for another time.
Anyway, this guy's name is Otis Gibbs. And I haven't heard anything like this in forever and a day.
This is the best of Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Pete Seegar and so many others. I'm telling you straight folks - this is like right out of Dylan's mouth in 1962-65. Straight from him to my soul. Powerful stuff.
Now I have never been one to condemn people that don't cry when they hear a song so beautifully aching that it completely overwhelms the rest of the senses.
Or maybe I am, but either way that happens to me.
I can get chills that shiver my spine right into my soul simply by hearing something that stikes a chord inside of me...........................just like when I wake up at night and look over at my beautiful wife sleeping beside me. It's that powerful.
In his song everyday people, he plucks the memories straight out of Woody Guthrie:
Grandpa walked a picket line when he was 19
Had a wife and kids back home to feed
Daddy did the same when it was his turn to
Made things better for me and you………
He said if it wasn’t tough it wouldn’t be true
They were everyday people like me and you
Stood out in the storm clouds stood there in the rain
Kept it together and the love remained
I'm telling you - this guy is amazing.
And seriously, look at this dude below.
If he won't make you believe in something - then you're in deep doo-doo.
I had to go on the internet to get some info on this guy because besides hearing two songs of his on the radio. I had no idea who he was or what he was. I didn't understand why he spoke so clearly to me. Kind of like Bruce Springsteen did for his first three albums when he truly was the boss..........
So I'm going to use someone elses words and research because that's how it works these days in a lazy man's world.
But I would add before I plagerize that there are several a-fuckin-mazing songs on this album.
"Damn Me" may be one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard - and I haven't even figured out what it's really all about yet.
And "Caroline", the opening track, is quite simply beautiful and oh so aching in it's tone.
I mean you can hear the experiences and the hopes of the poor, the desolate, the weary and the scared people. People that are just like each of us is at one time or another in our lives.
We are all connected. The closer that fact is to your heart the better your life will be. I promise you that.
So here's the bio stuff............
Otis Gibbs is a man in search of an honest experience. Some people refer to him as a folk artist, but that is a simplistic way to describe a man who has planted over 7,000 trees, slept in hobo jungles, walked with nomadic shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, been strip-searched by dirty cops in Detroit, and has an FBI file.
Otis has played everywhere from labor rallies in Wisconsin, to anti-war protests in Texas, Austria and the Czech Republic, Feed & Seed Stores in the Midwestern U.S. and in countless, theaters, festivals, bars and living rooms.
Much of his work concentrates on the world that is ignored by pop culture. Sometimes forgotten, obsolete or simply marginalized, it is a world that doesn't fit into a twenty-second sound bite or a White House talking point.
Otis has spent the last fifteen years traveling across America and abroad documenting this world, and has a story to share about each stop along the way.
Otis grew up in the rural town of Wanamaker, Indiana. He first stepped on stage at the age of four, when he sang Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train" at a neighborhood honky tonk. While his parents worked countless hours trying to make ends meet, Otis was often in his uncle's care. Not accustomed to parenthood, the uncle was sometimes bored, so the two would frequent bars, where Otis sang for tip money (which meant more booze for his uncle).
Otis was hooked, and would often ask if they could go back and sing some more songs. The answer, "Only if you promise to never tell your parents."
Otis started working when he was in high school. He stacked concrete blocks, flipped burgers, drove an ice cream truck, pumped gas, and did countless other crummy jobs.
After discovering writers like Edward Abbey, Henry Miller and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, he started questioning what he was doing with his life. He was tired of working jobs that didn't stimulate, or interest him in the least. So, in his own words, he decided to just "drop out."
Over the next four years, Gibbs earned and lived off less than $3,000 a year and had never been happier. He got rid of his car and shared apartments with artists, musicians and radicals (often living with 5 to 10 people).
He also took advantage of the free time and wrote hundreds of songs.
Otis sacrificed many of the comforts most of us take for granted, so that he could live a creative life. The next few years were spent touring and releasing four indie records. The most notable being "49th and Melancholy," (a stripped-down acoustic record, that was recorded to two-track reel-to-reel in a friend's laundry room).
There was also "Once I Dreamed of Christmas," a collection of songs he'd written "for people who don't like Christmas." In 2004, his critically acclaimed, "One Day Our Whispers" was released.
It was an unpopular time to speak truth to power, but the album's optimism and anti-war undertones resonated deeply with people who felt uncomfortable with the direction America was heading.
Though songs like "I Wanna Change It," "Thirty-three" and "Ours is the Time" have been described as protest songs, Otis prefers to call them "love songs for young radicals." "The Peoples Day" was later included in a Wall Street Journal list compiled by Billy Bragg of the "Top Five Songs with Something to Say."
This placed Gibbs in the company of Bob Dylan, The Clash, Sam Cooke, and Chuck Berry.
His latest album, "Grandpa Walked a Picketline," is a glimpse inside of an America that you don't see on the evening news, but it is the America most of us see at our doorsteps. The album showcases Otis' ability to breathe life into the characters of his songs. One such example is "Caroline."
The song tells the story of a woman who married too young. She finds herself stuck in an abusive relationship and secretly fears that her children will suffer the same fate.
The populist anthem, "Everyday People" shines a light on the struggles our grandparents endured in the workplace. As the line in the song suggests, their generation's willingness to take a stand, "made things better for you and me."
"Preacher Steve" is certain to ruffle some religious feathers, but a closer listen will reveal that the only people who should be offended by the song are those cynical clergymen who prey on fear for profit. This album is a reminder that Otis, above all else, is a damn fine songwriter.
But whever else he may be.............he will never be the real Otis...................
Peace - and remember to tell someone you love them today.
