There’s an old cliché about life that claims, “there’s no turning back.” Blues man, jazz man or better yet, music man Billy Gibson, said “once you go forward, you can’t go back.”
Gibson, a 30-year-old Clinton, Miss., native, took what he saw as the obvious path to the realization of a life’s dream. He headed north to Memphis just over a decade ago and made a new home out of the Bluff City and a fresh beginning where he keeps his eyes focused firmly ahead.
“I just showed up and started messing around,” Gibson said. “I developed a place for myself.”
Mingling with the Memphis legends daily, Gibson, who now has seven full-length releases and a regular performing role in the Memphis stage scene and is working on countless projects with an array of musicians, is at a very productive point in his relatively young career.
“In 10 years I believe I’ve played every bar in this city,” said Gibson.
Gibson came to Beale Street from the Delta in his early 20s, and said he knew exactly what he was getting into — history, tradition, a world of opportunity and “a level of play that’s amazing.”
The journey through a life of music, at least for Gibson, is humbling. That’s just the sort of thing that happens when you’re rapping to your childhood idols and making your mark amongst a circle of legends.
“I’ve already had the chance to perform with my heroes and had occasions to sit with the masters. Every night is another chance to realize what I’m experiencing. I remember being 15 and putting on records trying to get with these cats’ music. I came to Beale and went from listening to being there talking to them. I want to stay humble, but not stay trippin’ on it.”
Gibson said Memphis has greatly expanded his horizons — that it’s just a different world than the one down in the delta.
“I got swept up in an ocean of music. Pow! All the soul, all the blues — and I dove deep in the jazz. It’s a blessing I came to Memphis. All of my heroes of blues and blues harmonica were here,” he said.
Gibson, who plays the harmonica, is praised for his ability to captivate listeners with raw emotion and deep, contagious messages.
“People connect with the harmonica immediately. It’s so expressive. And in the hands of someone who knows how to play it ... man. It’s like a human voice, like you’re singing through it. It’s so expressive and so individual. You get to generate your own sound. You can express who you are. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
Gibson remembers his first harmonica.
He was just 7 when music became a part of his life. He recalls his mother playing a small piano, “singing me country tunes.”
They went to Wilson’s department store together and Gibson was in awe of the shiny, little Hohner harmonica on the small music department shelf (in an interesting twist of fate, Hohner now endorses Gibson).
“It was so cool the way it looked. ‘I want a harmonica, momma,’” Gibson said, and from there on he kept the Hohner in his shirt pocket and just, “grew up making sounds. I really grew into the instrument.”
Gibson has since gotten into a more formal swing of musical growth in The University of Memphis’ school of music.
Gibson grew up as a blues harmonica player amid many of the delta’s blues legends, in particular, blues man Johnny Billington.
“I spent several years with the bass guitar and harmonica playing down there in those juke joints and honky tonks with (Billington). That’s how music was always learned — the influence of a previous master.”
At The U of M, Gibson dove into the abstract world of jazz under professors Tim Goodwin and Joyce Cobb, masters of their trade, in his eyes.
“I don’t make much of a distinction between the styles. Blues and jazz are like separate sides of the same coin. Blues is an influence on jazz. They’re brothers and sisters, so it was just a natural progression. I just had a hunger or a need to explore jazz so I hit these cats playing jazz in Memphis,” said Gibson.
Gibson presently shares a place on the roster of Memphis jazz players with the likes of Calvin and Phineas Newborn and Booker Little, although Gibson himself is too humble to admit it. “These jazz cats here have changed the world,” he said.
His own style was influenced by chromatic jazz harmonica master Pete Pederson.
“That opened up the whole world of jazz. It doesn’t get any better. There’s nothing he can’t do,” said Gibson.
Gibson said he views his time at The U of M as time taken towards mastery of his craft, as well as allowing him to experience and synthesize from many styles of music. “These (professors) are some master craftsman and masterful performers, and I’m taking in some of their knowledge. I walk down the halls and I hear students playing Beethoven and Mozart and even opera. I’m just checking it out. There’s the elements of expression and the elements cross over. I’m blown away by the musical environment all the time.”
Gibson said if he could earn a degree in the end, it would be wonderful, but he’s more in it for the music. It’s all in the approach, according to Gibson. Whether it’s in the classroom or in the studio, the whole experience is about learning.
There is simply no better place for a musician to grow than Memphis, according to Gibson. “The soil is rich. All the history and all the stories passed on by my heroes — all the history and all them cats are still here. It’s too cool. I run into Rufus Thomas and bam — he’s there and we’re hanging.”
He doesn’t really know how it happened, but one day Gibson said he just knew it was time to go to Memphis. Gibson said he came here and sought out what he now has — living personal links to the treasures of music history. “I’ve been here over 10 years and I’ve seen it change, but the music is still here. It’s a unique place. It’s all life experiences and music experiences.”
Now he spends his time with Little Walker and James Cotton, sharing the tricks of the trade one day, and chillin’ with Willie Foster, Arthur Williams or Frank Frost another. “These guys are the original cats, bluesmen, masters.”
Gibson said the key to making friends with his heroes has been to approach it with humility and enthusiasm, and so far, the support and friendship of Memphis’ legendary music makers has been invaluable in his musical education. “They put it there for you and you can go with it. It’s a place to start and see what you can do with it.”
One of Gibson’s most memorable moments in his Memphis days took place, fittingly enough, on Beale Street. “James Cotton (of Muddy Waters) came to the club looking for me. He pulled me over, sat me down and just talked. He came there and found me,” said Gibson.
As for finding Gibson, you can listen to any of his releases courtesy of Inside Sounds, a Memphis record label (www.insidesounds.com). His most recent release is titled, “The Nearness of You,” an emotional, sentimental endeavor stepping his jazz work into a level of pure maturity. You can also find Gibson working the live circuit Saturdays at The Blue Moon restaurant from 9-11 p.m., Cafe Zanzibar on the second Thursday of each month and frequently in the Gibson Lounge. He’ll be playing the Center for Southern Folklore tonight from 6-8 p.m. tonight.
Gibson said he’s keeping his future wide open. As for goals and dreams, he’s got it. “I’m living, I’m learning, I’m doing it. Life is creative, and I just want to keep it fresh — just stay out there.”
Gibson will be back in the studio in January, working on his next album, for which he hopes to bring together a variety of musicians in collaboration.
