Claudia Gibson – The Fields of Chazy
Claudia Gibson’s lyrics tell interesting stories & she uses cohesive creative words. She composes songs with care & the arrangements are conservative. While there’s nothing radically distinctive about Claudia Gibson’s vocals, her songs are good & she’s entertaining. She possesses a good tone & seldom showboats. The songs are all well-played, and they have a discreet vitality. Worth a listen, just don’t expect anything as jarring as Lucinda Williams or as pop-oriented as Sheryl Crow.
Ms. Gibson’s (acoustic guitars/vocals) repertoire doesn’t seize on anything different than what most other good songwriters often explore. However, she doesn’t dwell on the ordinary standards – no saloon tales, bawdy times, or raising hell on Friday night on a mechanical bull. She focuses more on people’s lives, events, emotions & shared human experiences that encapsulate the past, present & future. It’s been done before but among the sameness are tunes that do sparkle & that’s what makes this set a worthy listen.
The 9 themes were produced by Walt Wilkins (harmonies/percussion) & Ron Flynt (bass/piano/organ) & interspersed through The Fields of Chazy (Drops March 1/Independent/39:00) & include diamonds like “Laura’s Song.” The tale’s solid, the playing’s melancholy but as it plays it becomes gripping. A flirtation with the ears. Claudia has many such stories & tells them well. But this tune has John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Townes van Zandt & Lucinda Williams-type poetry to it.
A little rawer is “Rain,” with an incipient coolness to it — like Lucinda Williams without her grittiness. “Rain” has too much luster when it should have more scratches in its hide. My instincts tell me Claudia can do it that way if she wishes. Certain words only. Not all songs need polish – this needs more saddle soap. Good material though. Claudia has an ounce of swampiness that seeps through sporadically from her musical senses.
“Promised Land,” is a prodigious & well-performed song. No cliches. Claudia provides many pure examples of good country-lyrical storytelling & she does come from an ancestry of people who lived the tales told in her songs. This gives her tune(s) credibility. Few melodies are commercially oriented, but many are fluid in her interpretation. I can hear the legendary group The Band perform this song. It has that veneer & ruralness they require.
Highlights – “Unbound,” “Laura’s Song,” “Rain,” “Promised Land” & “The Night Visiting Song.”
Musicians – Irish tenor Pat Byrne (duet vocal on “The Night Visiting Song”), Chris Beall (electric guitars), Rich Brotherton (acoustic & tenor guitars/mandolins/cittern), John Chipman (drums/percussion), Bart de Win (accordion), Mark Epstein (electric & acoustic basses), Warren Hood (fiddle), Geoff Queen (pedal steel guitar), Ray Rodriguez (Cajon/percussion) & Tina Mitchell Wilkins (harmonies).
Recorded in Texas. Color image courtesy of Claudia’s website. CD @ https://claudiagibson.com/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Song Premiere: Claudia Gibson “The Fields of Chazy”