Wanamaker (label)
24 May 2010 (released)
13 May 2010
There is not one note on this album that is lightweight or unconsidered and similarly Gibbs lyrics are truly heavyweight and meaningful.
12 songs telling stories of injustice, union bashing and the darker side of American politics and history and while it never lets up the commitment is honest and I can’t doubt his integrity.
Gibbs voice is harsh and dark and the music is 'simple’ country/Americana but he has always been about the subject and not the style and the subject here is strong meat for folks for whom Nick Griffin is the worst thing they have seen.
The titles tell much of the story – 'Joe Hill’s Ashes’ revisiting the scene of Joan Baez union leader, 'Twelve Men Dead In Sago’ about a mine disaster or 'The Town That Killed Kennedy’ about a depressing Greyhound journey - but it is his voice, strident and angry, that rivets you to the speakers and stops you turning away.
Brilliant and uncompromising music with all the spirit and soul of Woody Guthrie or Joan Baez and the presentation skills of Steve Earle.
