the Eric Bibb Show

Hey all just got in fro the Eric Bibb show and I gotta tell you it was a great show. Eric is an engaging performer and a fantastic singer. If you don't recognize the name you really should check out his music.

It's always a treat for me to play with someone of his caliber, that's no surprise. But there is always something about a show that hit's me as interesting, or something I had never though about. This time it was watching Eric do his sound check (a sound check is where the performer tests all the gear before the performance and makes whatever necessary adjustments need to be made). He worked systematically through the house sound, verifying that the guitar and his voice were 'recognizable', which I though was a great choice of words. He made some minor adjustments with the help of Sheila the sound engineer until the sound in the room was perfect.

It was pretty obvious last night that the monitor speakers (the ones that he was listening to) were really inadequate for the job. And here I agree- the monitor speakers were a pair of Carvin monitors that make a male voice sound like it's coming through a cheap telephone speaker. Remember the teacher's voice in the old Charlie Brown comics? That's what it sounded like. Now, that may sound like a small thing, but it's really important that as a singer you hear your own voice coming back at you. First, it's a comfort and it gives you confidence because you sound like yourself. Second, and much more important, if the sound is off you'll unconsciously compensate for the missing frequencies and hurt your voice. Eric had a gentle way of working with Sheila to get everything as sounding as good as they could, and then he was done. He kept making one statement that I thought was really pretty profound; "it sounds good, but it doesn't sound like me yet". It's really something that sound reinforcement engineers loose track of, as basic as that is.

OK, I did my sound check with Mr. Bib in the audience, and he was a great help dialing in the tone of my old National guitar. This can be tricky because it's not like a regular guitar made from wood- it's all steel and needs to have a certain 'thump' to it in order for all to be well with my universe. All was well.

We spent a few minutes talking guitars with him and then right after a quick bite to eat it was showtime. The sound was great and the Anchorage audience was exactly what you expect- energetic, involved and loud. I just love playing for the home folks- Anchorage audiences are just nothing short of excellent. It took me a minute though to get comfortable, because the theater was so dark that all I could see was the edge of the stage and then nothing- edge of the world darkness. Probably exactly what Christopher Columbus was afraid he's sail into. It's really that dark, kinda like singing into a black curtain.

I played 3 new songs, 2 of which you'll find on my new CD. I opened with the title cut "Glenn Highway Blues". It felt really comfortable, and armed with that sense of security I played a real slow song called "Hole in my soul", that I wrote the night my father died. It was the first time I've ever played that in public; it's a very personal song. The time was right and from the comments I heard later on it was well received.

And so my friends my last acoustic gig in Alaska has come and gone. Thanks to all of you I saw there for your support. Next stop, Humpy's. Tonight is the farewell show, last full gig of my road band! See you tonight!

Peace

Son