If you missed this, like I did first time around then stop and take note of this essential offering of folk from East Nashville based troubadour Otis Gibbs, the albums title is a homage to American Union activist the late Joe Hill (history lesson) and the album is about as authentic as American roots music gets, steeped in the tradition without letting it strangle the content the albums possess a simple and raw power which is delivered straight-up by Gibbs’ parched and cracked vocal, the fella’s bio makes for more than interesting reading ”a man who has planted over 7,000 trees, slept in hobo jungles, walked with nomadic shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, been strip-searched by dirty cops in Detroit, and has an FBI file“.
The writing on this album is stunning, indeed the whole album exudes a quality level that pushes Gibbs into the premier league of the Americana troubadour, there’s no hiding . . . → Read More: Otis Gibbs “Joe Hill’s Ashes” (Wanamaker Recordings 2010)
