WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO!
Sometimes it feels like it snuck up on us, but music listening has changed so much in the last 15-20 years. Now with earbuds, podcasts, YouTube and paid streaming services, we curate and share songs and albums very personally, hearing music in bubbles that only get pierced by the ceremony of live shows.
On our DC music podcast I’ve been known to lightly slag off the recent vinyl and cassette resurgence as vastly inferior to the convenience and ubiquity of digital music. However, one thing I must concede, putting the needle on a record invites a communal listening of recorded music that’s often missing in 2015. Music’s power is amplified communally; just ask any club DJ.
Singer/songwriter Drew Gibson taps into this energy in “When The Vinyl Scrapes”, the latest single from the full length album 1532 from earlier this year. “Where do you go when that needle hits?” Drew sings, as music leads him through memories of family made poignant through loss. The songs on 1532 were written after the passing of Drew’s father back in 2012, and helped him cope with that change, reviewing family lore to inspire the songwriting process.
Many, I’d say most actually, musicians project an aura of “cool”. They rehearse a carefully crafted image of detachment and confidence designed to entice, but really puts distance between performer and fan. Drew Gibson is not at all like this. Drew is friendly, “warm”. Drew is unafraid to pour his emotions and family history into songs and describe the process as he goes. His easygoing folk troubadour style and quiet fingerpicking guitar sound make 1532 extremely approachable. Talk to Drew after a show and you’ll see what I mean.
For the video for “When The Vinyl Scrapes”, which we are honored and excited to premiere today, Drew returned to filmmaker Tobin Herringshaw, director of two videos from Drew’s prior album The Southern Draw. Tobin’s breathtaking new video uses the Nevada desert as canvas, creating long widescreen images that look like gelatin silver photographs from a hundred years ago. The languid pace of the video is a great fit for Drew’s contemplative song.
The Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club hosts Drew Gibson on Sunday December 13th with support from occasional collaborator Devon Sproule. Get advance tickets now (and pick your seats out in advance too! Neat!).
Hometown Sounds 
Hello Drew,
I absolutely love this song. It touched me. It really touched me when I saw the video, the scene where you are writing a letter to your dad. I think about my long gone father constantly and miss him painfully. As a young boy I thought I’d have parents forever. They’re both gone but I see them everywhere in my daily life. Your song and your video brought them back to me in my mind again. Thank you for that.
I can only hope to write a song that will touch someone like this song did to me.
Peace fellow songster.
Ron Rawhoof
Very cool…