King, played for decades on albums and tours throughout the United States and Europe. Bibb was wowed not just by the historical importance of the guitar, the bass side of which still had a handwritten set list taped to it, but by its superior sound.
Bibb learned firsthand about music from such legends as Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan ; the latter advised him to keep things simple on the guitar. At the same time, Bibb was exposed to jazz; his uncle was the pianist and composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
And when Bibb moved to Europe in his early 20s he now lives in Sweden , he delved deeply into blues guitar as well as world music. I recently sat down with Bibb in an apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City to learn more about the playing on his latest record and his use of unorthodox chords in blues music. The whole tune is just one main riff [bars 1—2 of Example 1 ] and a turnaround [bars 3—4].
This riff [ Example 2 ] is based on a D5 shape. The song has one turnaround—the V chord, A7sus4 [ Example 3 ]. Eric Bibb is one gifted blues guitar player. Lately, Bibb finds his groove augmented by the influence of West African rhythms, and it is growing more insistent by the day.
Once established, it'll dictate how the rest of the song will go, instructing Bibb on how best to place the vocals. But Bibb approaches the guitar with a storyteller's sensibility. The groove is only part of it. Producer Glen Scott gave Dear American has a sense of warmth. It sounds gently baked, homely. At times, it is a work of spiritual renewal.
He wants you want to stop a while and luxuriate in the album's timbre, in the three-dimensional throatiness of his string resonator. But the material is unsparing; honest storytelling always is. But it has a message that he wants to extend to people on all corners of the world. And there is more than enough spiritual uplift to go round….
My playing has sunk from my head to the lower regions. More and more, I am finding myself depending on, leaning on some kind of groove. All the travelling you have done, living in different countries, that is really the one thing that helps change our perspective and shapes how we see the world.
As a songwriter, and essentially a storyteller, that must have been invaluable for you? I wish everybody could have at least a taste of that experience because I think it really is helpful in times of huge conflict. These are times of huge conflict, but if feels like — above all else — these are times of great acceleration, in which social media assumes the role of accelerant. We are still the same species but it brings out the worst in us. I think we are in a position to see more clearly where we are really at, and of course what I am seeing is people who have already developed a higher sense of belonging to a larger community seem to be becoming more empathetic, and people who are more fearful, or who are not there yet, are becoming more fearful.
I am seeing an intensification of both the positive and the… What can I say? The alarming! It is alarming. Because you have this acceleration, but then you also have the fact that the world is a very complex place and yet people are clinging to simple interpretations of difficult problems, and there are no easy answers.
I also understand that, like you say, in these uncertain times, of change that is not really able to be integrated as fast as it is happening, that the fear factor in some people has gotten to a point where adhering to a very kind of standard, rigid way of life and philosophy is probably their way of handling the fear of the unknown. We will of course get to the guitars and the writing but it is all connected.
Social media acts almost as this digital Perspex screen. We could meet people in another context, a real world neighbourly encounter, and they will see the humanity in you, they might lend your their lawnmower. But online, the screen is up, and it makes it harder to soften those divisions.
That really upfront, in person interaction that seems to temper the kind of polarisation that is around, that seems to be lessened. I think we are becoming hermit-like without even realising it. Is that fair to say? And I am glad you brought it up. I wish more people who interviewed me about this record would do so. I am not sure everybody is aware of my background as you might be. I have travelled around.
I have been in the South. My grandparents lived in the South. But New York is a cosmopolitan place, and that anxiety that I speak of is probably a lot less than it would be in other places. Nonetheless, never for a day was I unaware of the issues. I had a bit of that feeling in France, in Paris, but not completely because it is a different place and it has another history. But in Sweden, there were long moments, stretches of time, when I was not consciously aware of being dark-skinned — even though I stuck out.
The whole atmosphere just seemed to be free of a certain kind of energy that you get used to…. So, yes, it has everything to do with my take on the subjects I wrote about. Those experiences in Sweden would give you an emotional space, some room to relax into a sense of yourself. And that experience would seem to be the ideal state, in which race is the least-interesting interesting thing about us….
You have to really look at colonialism. You have to look at slavery, at all of that. I needed it. I had a very interesting experience just a couple of minutes ago. My wife told me about a comment on social media. And it depressed me for a minute because I know this is out there, that is why I care about these subjects and write about them.
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