About Susan Gibson

the serious bio		the not-so-serious but mostly accurate bio
“New Dog, Old Tricks” recaptures and reinvents two songs co-written with ex-bandmate Scott Melott. Look for a hauntingly desperate but utterly timely delivery of “Miles City,” a song so cloaked in despair that it clings to the listener long past the last note. The frustrated communicator comes out in “Walls Come Down,” a moody piece with a pop/rock edge.Both songs represent the versatility of Gibson’s songwriting prowess and underscore the “huge emotional growth” she’s undergone since the Groobees disbanded. “New Dog, Old Tricks” reflects what others will say has been a circuitous route to her own good fortune, but Gibson has gotten there, nonetheless, and listeners will be thankful for it. Along with the reclamation of her Groobee words, she’s included co-writes with Adam Carroll and Mark Jungers (“Start Over,”) as well as Maureen Ennis and Mark Murphy (“What’d I Ever Worry ‘Bout Before I Met You.”) Either track could drop as a single, but the first one rocks in hard, and the latter, lullabies a listener out. While you could probably find either one on the local juke box, don’t expect to hear Gibson’s only new solo writing effort on this disc there. “Baby Teeth” is Gibson in her resplendent simplicity and one should instead look for this song to crack the kiddie-sing-along noise barrier with its pop merriment and baby-boomers-with-babies appeal while it takes a few old timers to their knees in a Farmer’s Almanac faint. Gibson’s co-write with Houston’s TC Smythe, “Jezable’s Lament,” is fitting testimony to her long-time roadie and virtual sidekick, Jezable the Dog, who recently died of old age. “New Dog, Old Tricks” is Gibson’s nod to Jezable’s service in the music industry, and to the two road hounds that recently replaced her, Guilda and Nick, who not only “keep the crazies away,” according to Gibson, but lately have been “better about” not chewing up her stuff. (Well, until just recently. Check out the right toe of Gibson’s favorite cowboy boots.) Gibson’s canine companions are rescue dogs, and fittingly enough, a portion of this record’s proceeds will benefit the non-profit and its as-of-yet not-adopted population of rescued pets. “New Dog, Old Tricks” is also about Gibson’s affinity for words: all of the songs are songs Gibson plays at her shows. Gibson’s older fans have long demanded a revisit of the older stuff, and the newer fans wanted access to the records that even she no longer had access to. Gibson addressed both issues with “New Dog, Old Tricks” and the resulting musical collaboration is what Gibson originally envisioned with her songs, making the project all that much sweeter. Under the production helm of Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch, the new record features legendary drummer Paul Pearcy, the incomparable Michael O’Connor (along with Gabe Rhodes in a fiery double-lead guitar role) and John Greenburg on baritone guitar. David Carroll joins them on bass, and Lorsch also appears on the violin, lowboy, and mandolin. All of it is recorded at the Zone, a top-rated studio tucked in the sleepy hill country hamlet of Dripping Springs. Hence, a solo project as much about money and marketing as it is about who Gibson was and who she is today: a singer, a songwriter, a musician, a manager, a booking agent, a roadie, an accountant, and more. Susan Gibson is the quintessential entrepreneur in a global market, yet she is her own product and service. Gibson is the whole package, and her performances are empowering, because with the release of “New Dog, Old Tricks” Gibson has shown us the real dichotomy of a songwriter: Gibson has shown us what it means to get some pieces of our self back while still willing to keep giving other pieces away.		In 1990 Susan Gibson went to college; it was there she found her love of trees and open mics. When pressure grew to pick one or the other, she moved to Amarillo to join forces with the Groobees, a choice that produced 3 albums, 5 sets of hard feelings, and one shoulder tattoo. During that time, esteemed producer Lloyd Maines, in an effort to get his daughter out of the house, sent Natalie Maines and the Gibson penned “Wide Open Spaces” to the Dixie Chicks. The rest is political and socioeconomic history. Recently, after being asked enough about it for the past decade, Gibson had to look up just what exactly the Dixie Chicks did win at the Grammy’s in 1999. Google affirmed that she did indeed write the title track to a Grammy award-winning album. In 2002, the promising solo album debut of Chin Up went horribly awry after an unfortunate typo coupled with a proofreader afflicted with glaucoma ended in Gibson mistakenly offering a “free bonus truck” with each purchase instead of a “free bonus track.” Regardless, the album was met with acclaim from fans, critics, and members of the United Auto Workers alike. 2005 brought about the release of Outerspace, which against the wishes of esteemed producer Jack Saunders, has no title track because no song on the record is actually called “Outerspace.” Gibson embarked on several blind date writing sessions that birthed tunes like “Happiest when I’m Moving” with Jim Lauderdale and “Together Strong” with Randy Scruggs and Jack Saunders. “Happiest” spends summers with Lauderdale on his record “Hummingbird” and school years and alternate Christmases on Gibson’s album. A hefty touring schedule and 137 oil changes later, Gibson released 2008’s “New Dog, Old Tricks,” which, against the wishes of esteemed producer Walt Wilkins, has no title track because no song on the record is actually called “New Dog” or “Old Tricks.” It is a simply resplendent collection of re-recorded Groobees tracks and new songs. Tracks include “Baby Teeth,” and “Start Over.” Tracks include “Baby Teeth,” and “Start Over.” Gibson’s performance style is suited to any venue, from solo acoustic in living rooms to raucous full bands in Texas dancehalls and everything in between. She will get uncomfortably close to broaching your personal space boundaries at a house concert, or tell just-inappropriate-enough jokes to make the crowd in an attentive listening room blush but feel good about it. These days you’ll find Gibson on the road anywhere from Terlingua, Texas to New York City, flirting with Freightliner Sprinter mechanics in every state. Her immediate plans consist of touring the U.S., Canada, and Europe and working on her yet untitled next album, which against the wishes of whichever esteemed producer she chooses, will not have a title track because no song on the record will actually be called whatever she ends up titling it. When asked about her long-term future plans, she says she often wishes she were a scientist.