Stony Plain Records artist: Eric Bibb - Migration Blues - New Release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Migration Blues, from Eric Bibb and it's a nice package. Opening with Refugee Moan, a modern acoustic blues, Bibb on vocal and guitar is joined by Michael Jerome Browne on guitar and violin, JJ Milteau on harp. With a really solid delta blues framework, Bibb masterfully crafts a beautiful recreation of original delta style blues with vocals smooth as silk. Prayin' For Shore is a really supple ballad with nicely appointed guitar accompaniment to Bibbs vocals and Milteau's harp work. Very nice. Title track, Migration Blues, is a articulate blues instrumental with nice finger and slide guitar work, complimented nicely by Milteau's harp. One of my favorite tracks on the release, Brotherly Love, has really strong soul lines. Bibb's vocals really lends itself to this style and his guitar work blended with that of Browne's is terrific. Nothing could be more appropriate to today's climate than Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. Without changing the general arrangement much but spiced up quite a bit with guitar and mandolin, this track is really nice. Blacktop is another super delta style blues track with Browne on vocal and resonator. Wrapping the release is springy, Mornin' Train, with a clean Piedmont Style.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 For added exposure - Blues World Wide Group "LIKE" 

 

“Like” Bman’s Facebook page and get support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Award-Winning Singer/Songwriter Eric Bibb Shines a Light on "Migration Blues" with New CD Coming March 31 from Stony Plain Records

Award-Winning Singer/Songwriter Eric Bibb Shines a Light on Migration Blues with New CD Coming March 31 from Stony Plain Records

EDMONTON, AB – Stony Plain Records announces a March 31 release date for Migration Blues, the new album from Blues Music Award-winning singer/songwriter Eric Bibb. The new album showcases Eric Bibb’s talents on vocals, guitars, six-string banjo and contrabass guitar, backed by a group that features Michael Jerome Browne (guitars, vocals, banjos, mandolin and triangle) and JJ Milteau (harmonica). Migration Blues was produced by Bibb, Browne and Milteau. Watch a video of the making of Migration Blues here:

Mainly composed of new tunes, the 15 tracks on Migration Blues also include covers of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” An arrangement of the traditional “Mornin’ Train,” closes the opus.

“Whether you’re looking at a former sharecropper, hitchhiking from Clarksdale to Chicago in 1923, or an orphan from Aleppo, in a boat full of refugees in 2016 – it’s migration blues,” Eric says about his timely and insightful new release. “With this album, I want to encourage us all to keep our minds and hearts wide open to the ongoing plight of refugees everywhere. As history shows, we all come from people who, at some time or another, had to move.”

In a career spanning five decades, 37 albums, countless radio and TV shows and international touring, Eric Bibb has become one of the leading bluesmen of his generation. He’s also one of the most respected blues singer and songwriters, whose music is always reverent, keeping one foot in the blues and folk storytelling traditions.

“The joy of making music and sharing it with you is a big part of my life,” Bibb says in the album’s liner notes. “Another big part is travelling and getting to know folks from many places. This exposure to different cultures has led me to think of myself as a citizen of the world, blessed with countless opportunities to recognize my connectedness to people everywhere. Feeling this connection makes it easier to let go of my pre-conceived notions and prejudices toward people and cultures that are outside of my experience.

“The way I see it, prejudice towards our brothers and sisters who are currently called ‘refugees’ is the problem. Fear and ignorance are the problems. Refugees are not ‘problems’ – they are courageous fellow human beings escaping dire circumstances. Fleeing from war and unbearable hardship is something people have been doing all over the world for millennia. It’s nothing new. Every culture has its own migration stories and songs.

“While pondering the current refugee crisis I found myself thinking about the Great Migration, which saw millions of African Americans leaving the brutal segregation and economic misery of the rural South for the industrial cities of the North. Making this connection is what inspired the new songs included here. Peace and love, Eric.”

Migration Blues Track Listing

01 REFUGEE MOAN 3:06

02 DELTA GETAWAY 2:37

03 DIEGO’S BLUES 3:42

04 PRAYIN’ FOR SHORE 4:03

05 MIGRATION BLUES 3:07

06 FOUR YEARS, NO RAIN 2:36

07 WE HAD TO MOVE 3:09

08 MASTERS OF WAR 3:19

09 BROTHERLY LOVE 4:11

10 LA VIE C’EST COMME UN OIGNON 2:38

11 WITH A DOLLA’ IN MY POCKET 3:51

12 THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND 3:16

13 POSTCARD FROM BOOKER 0:51

14 BLACKTOP 3:56

15 MORNIN’ TRAIN 3:36

Eric Bibb is currently on tour in Canada with a series of U.S shows to follow.

Eric Bibb U.S. Tour Dates

3/1-3/2                 African-American Arts Center                    Albuquerque, NM

4/21-4/24            Fur Peace Ranch                                                               Pomeroy, OH