Monday, March 16, 2009

IT'S GIBSON BROS WEEK @ THE 'TWANG

I've decided that this week we're going to present a handful of the early 45s from Columbus. Ohio's GIBSON BROS, a band that I credit more than any other with introducing me to the scuzzed-out delta blues of the 1920s and 30s, as well as the one that helped me appreciate, admire and celebrate the slapdash, one-take, who-the-fuck-cares ethos inherent in so much of the rock and roll I love today. These records are really hard to find, and I get the feeling that most folks today don't know how great or revered by record dorks the GIBSON BROS were in their time.

I bought the band's "Big Pine Boogie" LP in 1987 - I can't remember why; I'm guessing because I'd read somewhere that it was a raw, feedback-drenched country/blues record on Homestead - and it opened up all sorts of new worlds for me. The record, and those that came before and after it, was this righteous blend of cornpone, nearly-comedic hucksterism and this great, loose-limbed approximation of some killer 1951 radio station from the deep, deep American South. I love every song on it to this day, and from around 1987 to about 1993, there were a bunch of us who were deeply indebteded to and huge boosters of this band, & talked 'em up every chance we got.

So let me take it from the top. First, I have an apology of sorts to make. I sold most of my 45s earlier in this decade in what's now known in the Hinman house as "the great purge", which proceeded after I had digitized each of them. I needed some cash to buy an ipod or some beer or something. What I could not have forseen back then was that I might want to scan the covers of these 45s on my 2009 mp3 blog Detailed Twang, so that readers might then be able to "envision" the 45s that they were listening to on their computers. Because nobody else on the Interweb has scanned the single I'm posting for you today, you're going to have to make do with a 1992 promo photo of the band, which only includes two members (Don Howland & Jeff Evans) who were in the same 1985 band that actually made these recordings.

The 45rpm EP I'm posting for you today is called "Southbound". Though the recordings are from 1985, and originally came out on a great cassette on Mike Rep's Old Age/No Age label called "Build A Raft , this "Southbound" EP came out on German label Glitterhouse in the early 90s. They culled 5 humdingers from the tape (including great Charley Patton & Charlie Feathers reinterpretations) and presented it to a mostly uncaring public, and after I bought the thing I maybe saw it once again. "OOP", as they say. I hope you like it. We'll have more GIBSON BROS later in the week, so click on back here now, ya hear?

Play The Gibson Bros, "Big Pine Boogie"


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Emulsified maybe?

Anonymous said...

Howdy J.
Picked up a cut out copy of Big Pine Boogie back when on the strength of it being on Homestead (tended to like stuff on Homestead back then and still do). Over the years purchased other releases as I came by them. Lettering on your promo shot of them looks like it belongs to 'Man who loved couch dancing', the studio side of which was pretty great.
Thanks for this, previous and future postings of the Bros, not heard this one before.
Cheers Mike

Anonymous said...

BUT WHERE IS THE COVER OF WHITE NIGGER??!!

Anonymous said...

the sound of this recording is pretty fuckin great
the confidence of it man, like if they were running through old standards they learned as kids
brings to mind this mental image of a bunch of dudes sittin on hot day arguing "no it goes like this!" and "etc"