Eric Bibb - Booker's Guitar (2010)

It's a story worthy of blues mythology…one night, a few years ago, noted blues guitarist Eric Bibb was approached by a fan after a London performance. Carrying a guitar case, the fan opened it up to reveal a vintage, 1930s-era Resophonic National steel guitar that once belonged to Mississippi Delta blues legend Booker T. "Bukka" Washington White. Holding the famed instrument inspired a song, which Bibb later expanded into an entire album.

Booker's Guitar is the album inspired by Bibb's chance meeting with the fan in London, a fifteen-song collection that represents the artist's deep connection with the Delta blues. The album-opening title track was recorded in England with Bibb using White's powerful guitar. The remainder of Booker's Guitar was recorded in rural Ohio, with Bibb using his own personal instruments, but the other songs fuse perfectly with the English recording to create a masterful updating of the Mississippi Delta blues legacy.

Eric Bibb's Booker's Guitar

"Booker's Guiter," the song, is a joyful celebration of the life and career of bluesman Booker T. "Bukka" White. Lyrically describing the blues legend's instrument with loving care, Bibb's vocals are reverent, the melodic chorus downright contagious and supported by the guitarist's charming fretwork. More than a tribute to an obvious musical influence, however, the song is a welcome reminder that without the past, there is no future.

In the best Mississippi Delta blues tradition, much of Booker's Guitar is comprised of just Bibb and his soulful vocals, accompanied by a lone guitar, and on a few songs by Grant Dermody's mournful harp playing. The result is a sort of acoustic blues unheard of since the 1920s. Bibb's original "Flood Water" is a good example, the somber number echoing the work of Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker, among others, in recounting the story of the Mississippi flood of 1926. Bibb's may be the most imaginative telling of this sorrowful tale yet, his plaintive vocals complimented by a hypnotic guitar line and punctuated by Dermody's emotional blasts of harp.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

There are only a couple of covers on Booker's Guitar, but they're both well-met. Bibb's take on the traditional folk dirge "Wayfaring Stranger" perfectly captures the lonely melancholy of the song, his trembling vocals perfectly matched by an elegant guitar rhythm. Blind Willie Johnson's "Nobody's Fault But Mine" is delivered as an up-tempo foot-stomper, Dermody's harmonica dancing beneath Bibb's wonderful a capella vocals. One can hear the gospel fervor in Bibb's voice, as the song's verses jump up and sit back down with spiritual tremors.

The delightful instrumental "Train From Aberdeen" was inspired by a reference to his hometown of Aberdeen, Mississippi thay White once included in a song. Here, the brief but potent interlude showcases Bibb's skills with the nine-string, providing a kind of half-way point in the album. The foundation of "Rocking Chair" is a walking guitar riff based on Fat Domino's classic "Walking To New Orleans," the song itself a gentle reminder of the power of music as a transcendent force. Inspired by B.B. King – Bukka White's cousin – Bibb's "Tell Riley" is a fine tribute to the great guitarist, a historical accounting that features plenty of engaging, complex fretwork, some fiery harp, and Bibb's nimble vocals.

The Reverend's Bottom Line

Eric Bibb is usually acclaimed as an imaginative and talented acoustic guitarist, but as shown by Booker's Guitar, he's a skilled wordsmith as well. The structure, melody, and intelligent lyricism of the songs here are supported by Bibb's warm, authoritative vocals and creative fretwork. Although inspired by pre-war Delta blues music, Bibb has brought the acoustic country-blues sound into the new century, and as such his material has all of the gravitas and punch of the old stuff, combined with the immediacy and vitality of modern music.

That said, however, the blues of Booker's Guitar won't be to every listener's liking. The folkish man-and-his-acoustic-guitar approach may chafe those who like loudly-amped music, and Bibb's vocals are, at times, somber and appropriately monochromatic in their delivery. Listen carefully, however, and you'll feel the flames beneath the smoke, and if Bibb's unique reading of the blues is anything, it's not wallpaper. This is blues music for the brain as well as the heart and soul, and if you'll take the time to thoroughly enjoy Eric Bibb's Booker's Guitar, you'll be richly rewarded. (Telarc Records, release January 26, 2010)

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