The Gibson Brothers’ brand of bluegrass is a visceral mix of heritage and soaring harmony, making them the premiere brother duet of the genre, following in the footsteps of legendary brother acts such as the Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, and the Osborne Brothers. Their first-ever album of entirely original songs, In the Ground sees the Gibson Brothers taking on their own roots as the sixth generation of Gibsons to grow up on their family farm. The two-time International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year follow up their stellar, 5-times nominated tribute to brother harmonies, Brotherhood, with this latest effort, which digs even deeper into their commitment to family and their history. The themes come from the farm, their childhood, and the region in which they were raised. One can hear their dedication to the songs, from the lighthearted to the profound; in the modernity of the lyrics, matched with a virtuosity that feels somehow both traditional and revelatory. Featuring celebrated, award-winning Dobro player Rob Ickes, In the Ground reaches into new territory for the Gibson Brothers as they reflect on their past.
The Gibson Brothers
In The Ground
February 17, 2017
With accolades including the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year; Song of the Year; Songwriter of the Year and Album of the Year—in some cases multiple times—the Gibson Brothers truly need no introduction in the bluegrass world. Yet even though they’re "bluegrass superstars" (New York Times), there are still plenty of people outside the worlds of bluegrass and acoustic music who are not yet familiar with their music. For them, In The Ground is the perfect record—just as it is for long-time Gibson Brothers fans, too.
It’s often said that “it all begins with a song.” From the beginning, the Gibsons have been known as "songwriters' songwriters”—and sure enough, In The Ground is all-original, with only two outside co-songwriters; that alone makes it a stunning achievement. And while any new Gibson Brothers album would be big news and cause for excitement, the fact that their most recent album, Brotherhood, was a lovingly historical-minded tribute to the brother duet tradition, underlines how much anticipation there’s been for an album of all-new Gibson Brothers originals.
“I think it shows maturation," says Leigh, the younger of the duo. "I started to see and feel the impact of where we’re from—how it carries into our music, its honesty. We didn't need to turn to anyone else to tell our story for the record."
“'Remember Who You Are’ is what my dad said to me right before I went to college," says older brother Eric, and sure enough, the opening lines of the chorus point straight to his advice:" Some will tell you everything you want to hear, some will make you question all that you hold dear.”
In the same vein, he explains that ”Fool's Hill" is "based on an expression I heard my mother and grandmother use about young people getting in trouble. . . 'oh, he's just climbing Fool's Hill.’”
Other songs explore aspects of a musician’s life. “‘Friend of Mine’ began as a song about a guitar," says Leigh. He was gifted a 1940s-era guitar from a friend who passed away. Then, he says, that idea was coupled with the sheer joy of driving down the road with Mike Barber, the band's bass player, who has been with the band for over 23 years. "Little Girl," on the other hand, was a song Eric penned a decade ago, when the possibility of success felt very far away. Yet that sense of stasis is juxtaposed with the album’s quickest tempo, its lyrics speaking to the fear of being stuck, even as the banjo races forward.
On "I Found A Church Today," the brothers return to their churchly roots with a brother harmony that sounds as much like barbershop quartet as it does like bluegrass. "Look Who's Crying Now" is influenced by the Stanley Brothers, 1970s country, and a Levon Helm sort of swamp-waltzy thing, while "Everywhere I Go" is particularly special to Eric, whose guitar- and mandolin-playing son, Kelley, collaborated with his brother and father on the melody and writing.
The title song, "In the Ground," closes out the album, slowing things down with a sparse and contemplative guitar-and-vocal opening that speaks to the end of the family farming era, when
men and women could support themselves and their families on the acreage around them. It's also about time moving on and progress being a double-edged sword. Though this is a theme familiar from earlier Gibson Brothers songs, it hasn’t been done better or more powerfully than here, again with the multiple layers of meaning of "In the Ground:” the term, from planting and harvesting, to the heyday and demise of the family farm, to birth and death, ultimately being placed in the ground at the end of it all.
Indeed, In the Ground may be the Gibsons’ most personal album to date, recalling moments from childhood and what it was like to be the last generation of their family to grow up on a dairy farm in northern New York, close to the Canadian border, in a place that felt locked in time. "We are a team,” Eric muses. “We slept in the same room on the farm, slept in the same dorm room at college, and often room together now on the road. I’m proud that whatever Leigh and I have accomplished has been together.” And despite their many career advances, it’s clear that the brothers can still dig deep into the roots of their own musical heritage and indelible memories of parents, home, and loss.
Born on a northern New York dairy farm, they began on banjo and guitar in middle school. Their dad, Kelley, owned a banjo, a fiddle and a guitar, and offered them lessons - under the condition that they not quit. And while they did, indeed, stick to the music firmly planted in farm and family, the brothers expanded outward from there, from the Earl Scruggs lesson book to listening to Don William, to Ricky Skaggs with Emmylou Harris—an important intersection of country and bluegrass—and to the revelatory inspiration of Flatt & Scruggs Live at Carnegie Hall.
From those beginnings, combined with music in church and its emphasis on singing and harmony, the brothers created their own distinctive style of singing and songwriting. "I think there a few things in play here,” Leigh told The Boston Globe in 2015. “The first is genetic, the second is tone. The other part is learned. It's the fact that you grow up in the same household, and you learn to talk with the same people. You pronounce things the same way, you mispronounce things the same way. That tightens things just a little bit." Brother acts, he says, often grew up in simple rural settings like their own. "A lot of our entertainment at home came from playing and figuring out songs."
"Being removed from the rest of the population of bluegrass musicians, there was an individual sound created," he summarizes.
Award-winning bluegrass broadcaster Katy Daley highlights another major part of their impact and appeal: "The music is layered and textured, enhancing the lyrics and bringing the brother-duet tradition into the twenty-first century.” To help in the job, the Brothers have a loyal and virtuosic team of musicians with them. Mike Barber, together with the boys so long he's often called the third Gibson brother, is a 23-year veteran of the band, grounding the duo on bass. Clayton Campbell, outstanding fiddle player, has been providing sensitive back-up and stellar solos for over a decade, and while Jesse Brock is a relative newcomer to the band, he’s a polished veteran who’s earned the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year award with forceful rhythm and dynamic solos that are by now an integral part of any Gibson Brothers show.
Put it all together and you have the finest record the Gibson Brothers have yet released. In the Ground has everything we've come to expect from this group's sound, with songwriting that continues to mature and deepen over the years, and a vocal and instrumental delivery to match.
In a genre built on the push-pull of progress and nostalgia—a theme often articulated in their original songs and their way of performing them—it stands to reason that this collection serves not only as an essential Gibson Brothers set, but as an authentic new bluegrass classic.
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Click to download high-res - Photo credit: Lisa Carbone
TECH COPY (CD Booklet) street date: 02/17/2017
ARTIST: The Gibson Brothers
TITLE: In the Ground
LABEL: Rounder
UPC: 888072020573
1166100173
Produced by Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson and Mike Barber
Recorded by Ben Surratt at The Rec Room, Nashville, TN
Additional recording by Joel Moss and Charlie Eble at Woods End Recording Studio, Greenfield Center, NY
Mixed Ben Surratt at The Rec Room, Nashville, TN
Mastered by Paul Blakemore at CMG Mastering
Photography: Laura Carbone
Package Design: Terri Morris
Leigh Gibson − guitars, lead and harmony vocals
Eric Gibson − banjo, lead and harmony vocals
Mike Barber − bass
Clayton Campbell − fiddle
Jesse Brock − mandolin, harmony vocals
Rob Ickes − resophonic guitar
Rob Ickes appears courtesy of Compass Records
Thanks to The Rounder Founders: Ken Irwin, Bill Knowlin and Marian Levy, Rounder Records, Chris Harris, Stan Strickland and Rainmaker Management, Barron Ruth and Crossover Touring, D’Addario Strings, Deering Banjos, Wayne Henderson and Henderson Guitars, Tom Venne, Matt Miller, Dick Decosse and Dick’s Country Store and Music Oasis and Gun City, Ben Surratt and Missy Raines, IBMA, Katy Daley, Terri Morris and Mollie B. Creative, The Country Music Hall of Fame, Kyle Cantrell and Sirius XM, Justin Voss, Matt McCabe and Saratoga Guitar, Joel Moss, Charlie Eble, Dave Nichols and Custom Pearl Inlay, Rob Ickes, Jesse Brock, Clayton Campbell and Mike Barber.
Artist Representation/Management: Chris Harris – Rainmaker Managament
gibsonbrothers.com
rounder.com
℗ & © 2017 Rounder Records Corp. Manufactured and Distributed by Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the U.S.A. 1166100173
LABEL COPY (CD Booklet) street date: 02/17/2017
ARTIST: The Gibson Brothers
TITLE: In the Ground
LABEL: Rounder
UPC: 888072020573
1166100173
1. Highway (3:07)
(Eric Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
2. Homemade Wine (3:11)
(Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
3. Remember Who You Are (2:59)
(Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
4. Making Good Time (3:05)
(Eric Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
5. My Quiet Mind (4:07)
(Leigh Gibson, Shawn Camp)
Scamporee Music (BMI), International Dog Music (BMI), Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
6. I Can’t Breathe Deep Yet (3:32)
(Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
7. Fool’s Hill (3:29)
(Eric Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
8. Friend of Mine (2:57)
(Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
9. Little Girl (4:11)
(Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
10. I Found a Church Today (2:42)
(Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
11. Look Who’s Crying (3:39)
(Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
12. Everywhere I Go (4:01)
(Kelley Gibson, Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
13. In the Ground (4:55)
(Leigh Gibson)
Brown Bird Songs (BMI)
OUTSIDE TRAY CREDITS street date: 02/17/2017
ARTIST: The Gibson Brothers
TITLE: In the Ground
LABEL: Rounder
UPC: 888072020573
1166100173
1. Highway (3:07)
2. Homemade Wine (3:11)
3. Remember Who You Are (2:59)
4. Making Good Time (3:05)
5. My Quiet Mind (4:07)
6. I Can’t Breathe Deep Yet (3:32)
7. Fool’s Hill (3:29)
8. Friend of Mine (2:57)
9. Little Girl (4:11)
10. I Found a Church Today (2:42)
11. Look Who’s Crying (3:39)
12. Everywhere I Go (4:01)
13. In the Ground (4:55)
Produced by Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson and Mike Barber
gibsonbrothers.com
rounder.com
℗ & © 2017 Rounder Records Corp. Manufactured and Distributed by Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the U.S.A. 1166100173
[Rounder Records logo]
[Bar Code]
CD LABEL COPY street date: 02/17/2017
ARTIST: The Gibson Brothers
TITLE: In the Ground
LABEL: Rounder
UPC: 888072020573
1166100173
℗ & © 2017 Rounder Records Corp. Manufactured and Distributed by Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Made in the U.S.A. 1166100173
[Rounder Records logo]
LYRICS street date: 02/17/2017
ARTIST: The Gibson Brothers
TITLE: In the Ground
LABEL: Rounder
UPC: 888072020573
1166100173
Highway
Well, my daddy went away had to go and get his pay on the highway
But he never came back, must have got off track on the highway
Now my ma won’t let me go like that old so and so on the highway
I’m looking down below lordie Lord I wanna go on the highway
Way up in the mountain air all I do is dream and stare at the highway
I’m gonna run downhill, gonna find my thrill on the highway
Chorus
Car lights, so bright
That’s where I’ll be tonight
On the highway, on the highway
Find a future find a girl gonna see that big old world on the highway
It’s a little bit dumb but I’m gonna ride my thumb on the highway
When my mama goes to sleep I pray the lord my soul to keep on the highway
Repeat chorus
Homemade Wine
Just waking up is killing me
I still taste last night every time I breathe
This shirt I’m wearing it ain’t mine
And it’s covered in that homemade wine
I got one shoe on but the other’s gone
I can’t figure out whose couch I’m on
I look for clues but there’s no sign
Been washed away by homemade wine
Chorus
Homemade wine, homemade wine
It ain’t fancy, it ain’t fine
But it will get me every time
Can’t leave alone that homemade wine
You can never tell what’ll kick it off
Could be a little pull to help a cough
And then some more to ease my mind
And I lose a day to homemade wine
Repeat chorus
Now lying here with the bottle dry
A wet cloth stretched across my me eyes
I could swear you off yet another time
But we’ll meet again sweet homemade wine
Remember Who You Are
Son, I’ve tried to show you the best I could
Some days I fell short but most were pretty good
Now as I watch you leave to find your shining star
When you get there remember who you are
Some will tell you everything you wanna hear
Some will make you question all that you hold dear
Remember what you learned on this little farm
And don’t forget, remember who you are
Chorus
I can see you going places I have never been
You might wind up winning hearts that I could never win
No matter where you’re going whether near or far
When you get there, remember who you are
I didn’t always tell you when I thought you shined
Better to let others brag on what was mine
I thought it would prepare you for when life gets hard
And it will, remember who you are
Repeat chorus
Making good time
We feel like we’ve been here before
The truth is we’re really not sure
Are we driving a few miles more, are we staying?
This new kind of freedom we’ve found
To nobody’s roadmap we’re bound
Our favorite radio sounds are playing
Chorus
We don’t know where we’re going
We don’t know where we’re going
We don’t know where we’re going
But we sure are making good time
Is it really so bad if we’re lost?
Does it matter who measures the cost?
How often do we come across such a pairing?
We’ve wandered so far and so wide
No pressure on us to decide
It’s a wonderful ride while we’re getting our bearings
Repeat chorus
I Found a Church Today
I found a church today, you led me to its door
There was love about, it made my spirit soar
We had worship there and Jesus’ name was praised
And I sang along, I found a church today
And all the souls inside welcomed from their pews
You were in their eyes and in their voices too
And my heart was full when it was time to pray
I came back to you, I found a church today
Chorus
And your love shown in through the windows wide
And it brightened the room till I’d nothing left to hide
Though I can’t recall what kept me away
Yet you knew my need, I found a church today
I’ll come back next week and bring a friend along
He needs to hear your word, he needs to sing your song
Keep a fire in me, don’t let me get away
Oh, it feels like home
I found a church today
Repeat chorus
In the Ground
In the ground, not many years ago
A bellyful they’d grow in the ground
In the ground, as long as they were able
They’d plan for the table in the ground
In the ground, like their parents did before
Blood and sweat they poured in the ground
In the ground that they held to as their own
They worked and made a home in the ground
Chorus
In ground like no other with help from nature’s mother
They fed this country’s cities and its towns
But in long slow surrender with profit getting slender
The family farm now often can be found
Beneath what some call progress in the ground
In the ground, they lived a straight line
But they’ve been running out of time in the ground
In the ground, that dream will be gone
And it feels so damn wrong in the ground
In the ground, we turn it over once more
And a casket we lower in the ground
In the ground, my hero gone home
I cry o’er his bones in the ground
Repeat chorus
My Quiet Mind
I lie on my bed alone in the wake of you being gone
I try not to wonder why you’re not mine tonight
Still in my head I hear echoes of goodbye
It might take a lifetime trying to find my quiet mind
Chorus
A quiet mind is a hard thing to find
Everyone listens to voices sometimes
Maybe I’m crazy thinking I deserve something so fine
It might take a lifetime trying to find my quiet mind
Here in this lonesome room night cries a cold, cold tune
Of the love I left unsaid and you left behind
Watching the fire die as it too runs out of time
It might take a lifetime trying to find my quiet mind
Repeat chorus
Friend of mine
Something calls out to me from the wood and wire
As I chase a dream that heartache cannot tire
You’re always there to keep me right in time
Friend of mine
You travel with me across the world and travel back
In the brightest light until the room is black
If I need something it’s you I always find
Friend of mine, friend of mine
Chorus
Time may show the toll it’s taken on both you and me
We no longer make the picture that we used to be
But the sound that comes from you still shines
Friend of mine, friend of mine
We shared the good and held up through the worst
And when it’s time to go again I’ll choose you first
You’ve made it so I want no other kind
Friend of mine
But like everything someday we will be gone
Then what remains of us will be in song
Will they think of us as they sing out each line
Friend of mine, friend of mine
Repeat chorus
Yes, the sound that comes from you still shines
Friend of mine, friend of mine
Look Who’s Crying
Look who’s crying now big tears of sorrow
The ones I knew would fall on some tomorrow
I told you when you let me go
“You’ll feel the same someday I know”
I cried more than a conscience should allow
Look who’s crying all those big tears now
Look who looks like her whole world is over
Who’s looking now to cry on someone’s shoulder
Telling me that people change
And how much I still look the same
Until suddenly I’m laughing out loud
Look who’s crying all those big tears now
Chorus
Look who’s crying I was wrong
Begging me to come back home
Saying baby now, we can work it out somehow
Look who’s crying all those big tears now
Now I remember crying those tears too
And a begging till my knees were black and blue
I surrendered all my pride
To try and keep you by my side
But it didn’t do any good anyhow
Look who’s crying all those big tears now
Repeat chorus
I Can’t Breathe Deep Yet
I got a beauty, yeah, she’s got my back
And I love that baby’s smile
There’s a band of boys and big guitars
That follow me every mile
I got a nice old house that will keep me dry
When the world gets cold and wet
I got everything a man could want
But I can’t breathe deep yet
I can’t breathe deep yet
Cause that big old sun shining on my face
Will always fade to black
And each minute I let tick away
Is one that won’t come back
I won’t slow down for the here and now
When there’s more that I can get
I’m thankful but unsatisfied
I can’t breathe deep yet
I can’t breathe deep yet
Bridge
Even if I tried I doubt I could control
The restless side of me that’s taken hold
Maybe some sad day that old and gray
Will get its hands on me
And I’ll look back on what I am
As the way I used to be
But here today all I can say
Is I’ll live without regret
I’m down that line while i got time
I can’t breathe deep yet
No, I can’t breathe deep yet
Fool’s Hill
Chorus
Fool’s hill, fool’s hill
Some won’t make it but most will
When you’re young and you’ve got time to kill
You take a ride up on fool’s hill
Wagging tongues, a little town
Brother’s got heads spinning all around
Mom just sighs. She’s had her fill
Says, “my boy’s just climbing fool’s hill”
Repeat chorus
Phone rings out on Christmas day
He got arrested he got hauled away
He could be a movie star
But you can’t bring your horse inside a bar
Repeat chorus
Does she wonder, does she doubt?
Whether he will get it figured out
Maybe theirs is just a freer will
Those who drive too fast on fool’s hill
Repeat chorus
Everywhere I Go
There’s planes, trains and fast cars and good times everywhere i go
There’s dancing and singing, laughter ringing as the red wine flows
Happy people all around me but I’ve never felt so low
It’s just one more night without you everywhere I go
Now that cold, hollow moon follows me everywhere I go
Does it shine in our room or do sad curtains turn back the glow?
Do you ever dream about me? I don’t really want to know
It’s just one more night without you everywhere I go
Chorus
Everywhere I go, everywhere I go
There is no rhyme nor reason, I can’t tell you why I ride
Everywhere I go, everywhere I go
I may find fame and make a name my best is left behind
Repeat chorus
There’s planes, trains and fast cars and good times everywhere I go
There’s dancing and singing, laughter ringing as the red wine flows
Happy people all around me, but I’ve never felt so low
It’s just one more night without you everywhere I go
Little Girl
Little girl, if I can hear your laughter then my day is made
You warm me with a fire when I have been out working in a cold
Rain
And I swear you have a way of knowing what I’m feeling
I told you I’d protect you but you’re the one who’s stronger, little girl
When the world is speeding through my mind and I am fading
I hear a soft voice call and troubles do not matter anymore
Then I’m back to being close to normal as I can be
You save the day again, with you I always win, little girl
Chorus
Would the world be the world little girl without you
Cause I need everything little girl about you
Little girl, not everything has worked out as I told you
Yet you still hold my hand with dirt beneath its fingernails so tight
And it’s life, no matter where you live it and I love you
You’re the one thing I’ve done right be mine again tonight, little girl
Repeat chorus
