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From the front porch of the farm house they grew up in outside the town of Ellenburg Depot, New York, Eric and Leigh Gibson could see a place called Lyon Mountain. It was famous for two things: iron ore mining and town baseball. It was from these elements, and their geographical source, that The Gibson Brothers drew the inspiration for their April 2008 Sugar Hill release, Iron & Diamonds. Lyon Mountain is part of the Adirondacks, the northernmost portion of Appalachia. Most people don’t equate upstate New York with farming, mining, Appalachia, or traditional music, but it’s all there. Though the brothers never mined iron, they did play baseball on the Lyon Mountain Miners team, and they shoveled snow and more on their family’s dairy farm just a few miles from the Canadian border. And at the age of 12 (Eric) and 11 (Leigh), they picked up a banjo and guitar and began their musical journey. Eric says, “Our father and mother had instruments around the house. A guy was teaching banjo and guitar up at Dick’s Country Store and he gave us a tape of Sweet Temptation and Flatt & Scruggs at Carnegie Hall.” They began singing after their minister suggested it and they also began listening to the great duo sounds from the past. Leigh remembers, “When I heard Buck Owens and Don Rich singing, it really clicked for me.” Then they discovered the Louvin Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, the Everly Brothers, and the Stanley Brothers. It was a tradition waiting for them. In the early 1990s, they formed a bluegrass band with Eric on banjo, Leigh on guitar, Junior Barber on dobro, and Junior’s son, Mike, on bass. Mike is still with them and is regarded as a third brother. In the coming years they recorded three well-received albums and won the 1998 IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year award. In 2005, the brothers signed with Sugar Hill Records. Their first release with the label, Bona Fide, went to #1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited album chart and placed high on the Americana and Billboard charts as well. Two more releases followed -- Long Way Back Home and Red Letter Day. These albums solidified the brothers’ reputation as singers, players, and songwriters. Now, with this new release, Iron & Diamonds, Eric and Leigh have taken their place on the American jukebox. The Gibsons have made a conscious effort to co-write most of the songs on this album. And by using their own band and a single microphone for their duet vocals, you hear exactly what you hear in a live show: a tight ensemble that plays to the song, toneful and nuanced lead and duet harmonies, and songs that can move you to tears or to the dance floor. But they’re also aware of how a collection of songs should be selected, arranged, recorded, and ordered so that it creates a complete listening experience. They start with a Tom Petty song, “Cabin Down Below,” that jumps out of the speakers like some runaway rockabilly hit.
It’s followed by the title track, “Iron & Diamonds,” about the miners and ballplayers from Lyon Mountain. The chorus shows just how steeped in baseball the brothers are, but it also cuts to the core of the miner’s experience. Around the horn, a can of corn, Great duos are powerful not because the individuals sound similar to each other, but because they have something unique in each voice that complements the other. In the case of the Gibson Brothers, it’s Leigh’s warmer tones and Eric’s high-lonesome intensity that create a great double-stop fiddle sound, a blending of experience and emotion that all great brother duets have. Their decision to record their vocals together really paid off. If you want to hear a song that could easily pass for an Everly Brothers hit, listen to “Lonely Me, Lonely You.” And the Steve Earle song “The Other Side of Town,” sounds like it was written specifically for the Gibsons. “Picker’s Blues” is one of the few bluegrass songs that actually gets to the truth about life on the road. And “One Step Closer to the Grave” echoes the great bluegrass songs of sin and salvation. The Gibsons never flinch from the truth that a song reveals, and the listener feels that too. Every word seems necessary and just right. The Gibson Brothers’ band includes Mike Barber on bass, Clayton Campbell on Fiddle, and Rick Hayes on Mandolin. And for this recording, former Gibson Brothers’ dobroist Junior Barber makes a guest appearance, and their sister Erin sings on the concluding gospel song, a Bill Carlisle gem, “Gone Home.” All the players on this album have spent time on the road with the brothers, have learned how to play to the song and to the vocals, and it shows. The playing can be loving or fiery according to the songs’ demands. With Iron & Diamonds, the Gibson Brothers have given us their music straight-up -- no pretence, no guile -- just great songs, a seasoned band, and brother vocals that go right to the heart. |
Click below for hi-res publicity photos. | |
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