Eric Bibb: Man on a Musical Mission

By Martha Slater

Acoustic blues singer-songwriter Eric Bibb will perform in concert at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph this Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Bibb spoke with The Herald Monday by phone from Seattle, where he is on tour. He is the son of 1960s folk and musical theater singer and television legend, Leon Bibb. His uncle was world-famous jazz pianist-composer, John Lewis, and singer-actor-activist Paul Robeson was his godfather.

"The musicians in my family were all people who were very socially aware and thought of themselves as shapers of culture not just entertainers," he noted.

Known for the introductions and anecdotes he weaves throughout his shows, Bibb said, "I like to let people know we're all more connected than we think. We tend to categorize people and we really have a lot of common ground that we should be celebrating. Music has a way of letting people know that we're a part of a family. I guess you could say it's my mission."

Bibb grew up in New York and headed for Paris at the age of 19. After spending a lot of his adult life in Sweden, he has lived in England for the past five years.

"It's a good place to be based if you're a touring musician," he commented.

Touring is something Bibb does a lot of. He appeared at the London Blues Festival in 1996, and has toured the world many times since, appearing at festival and club dates in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Europe and Australia. His current tour has taken him to several provinces in Canada, including some of the gulf islands west of Vancouver.

"I have a lot of friends and fans in western Canada, since I've performed at folk festivals there," he said. After his gig in Seattle, he was headed east to perform in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Bibb, who writes a lot of his own material, said, "I think of myself as a singer-songwriter with a rootsy inclination, a bluesy troubadour. I've played on a lot of acoustic blues stages."

Bibb records on the Telarc label and will play some of the material from his latest CD "Diamond Days" when he comes to Chandler.

"I always do some material from my new recordings in shows," he explained, "but I like to let audiences know who I am, so I draw from other songs in my repertoire that I'd like people to know me for."

Reserved seat tickets can be ordered by calling the Chandler Box Office at 728-6464 or tickets@chandler-arts.org.