ALBUM REVIEW: Otis Gibbs – Hoosier National

Otis Gibb’s album, “Hoosier National” released officially on Sept 18th, 2020 and he has some thoughts on his timing here “I think it’s safe to say, this is the absolute worst possible time to release a record. Most people would give up at this point, but I’m not most people. “
Well, to hell with the pandemic, I’m glad this recording has shown itself. The production is nice and clean. It feels like every song has what it needs, no unnecessary reverbs, guitar overdubs, strings or indulgent extra vocals etc.
In fact, there are no harmonies here; just Otis’s gravelly and sincere vocal style.

“I recorded this album at my buddy, Thomm Jutz’s place. It’s all electric and that’s a first for me. We pieced together a great band of musicians/friends. Thomm played electric guitar, Mark Fain played bass, Lynn Williams played drums, Jen Gunderman played organ and piano, and I sang and played electric guitar. “
Yes, Otis has more been known as the man with the acoustic guitar. I first heard of him when we were both playing, The Rhythm and Roots Festival in Ireland back in 2009. I was with my bawdier 3 piece electric unit and Otis was playing in the other room solo on that day. I did not get to hear him. But I saw the crowd exit from his show and everyone was clearly exhilarated from his performance. It stuck with me.

I am enjoying re-playing this album over and over. I think the purchase of the vinyl will be nice. I can tell it has the right kind of warmth that will make the grooves of a record breathe.
The drummer, Lynn Williams was the perfect player to introduce Otis’s writing to the electric world. He serves the songs tastefully, giving each number the right touch without blowing the classic Otis Gibbs mood off the recordings.

Mr. Gibbs is a storyteller and a photographer and there are clues to both talents in his lyrics. But he also likes to massage his words. In the song,“Panhead”, he sings,
“When he shut it off I remember asking why was it leaking oil,
He said son that’s how ya know it’s a Harley,
Cuz it marks it territory”. It’s satisfying to hear how he makes leaking oil and territory work as a sort of rhyme.

Esquire said, “Gibbs has been likened to everyone from Guthrie to Springsteen — but his is the rare voice that stands on its own.”
Ok, I’ll try the comparison game as well… This is Otis Gibbs with a JJ Cale like approach; simple, understated and skillfully to the point. I wonder if he will even tour with a band like this on the other side of the pandemic.
Careful Otis, ya might become more of a rocker, and Pete Seeger isn’t here to cut the cable.

You can find the record:
https://otisgibbs.bandcamp.com
or
http://otisgibbs.bigcartel.com/

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

Our Sister Publication

a word from our sponsors!

Latest Media Guide!

Where to find the Star-Revue

Instagram

How many have visited our site?

wordpress hit counter

Social Media

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

An ode to the bar at the edge of the world, review by Oscar Fock

It smells like harbor, I thought as I walked out to the end of the pier to which the barge now known as the Waterfront Museum was docked. Unmistakable were they, even for someone like me — maybe particularly for someone like me, who’s always lived far enough from the ocean to never get used to its sensory impressions, but

Quinn on Books: In Search of Lost Time

Review of “Countée Cullen’s Harlem Renaissance,” by Kevin Brown Review by Michael Quinn “Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: / To make a poet black, and bid him sing!” – Countée Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel” Come Thanksgiving, thoughts naturally turn to family and the communities that shape us. Kevin Brown’s “Countée Cullen’s Harlem Renaissance” is a collection

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Mothers of reinvention. “It’s never too late to be what you might have been,” according to writer George Eliot, who spoke from experience. Born in the UK in 1819, Mary Ann Evans found her audience using the masculine pen name in order to avoid the scrutiny of the patriarchal literati. Reinvention, of style if not self, is in the air

Film: “Union” documents SI union organizers vs. Amazon, by Dante A. Ciampaglia

Our tech-dominated society is generous with its glimpses of dystopia. But there’s something especially chilling about the captive audience meetings in the documentary Union, which screened at the New York Film Festival and is currently playing at IFC Center. Chronicling the fight of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), led by Chris Smalls, to organize the Amazon fulfillment warehouse in Staten