| the not-so-serious but mostly accurate bio |
|
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.” In 2011 Gibson did what no one ever expected would happen; she titled her fourth album after a song on the actual album. TightRope was birthed even though she expressed uneasiness at the title decision because the obvious choice was "Susan Sings the Songs of Wang Chung" (as there are no Wang Chung songs on the record). It was released to acclaim from fans and critics alike, with the exception of one Mr. Wayne Mansfield in Carbondale, IL, who probably listened to it on poor quality headphones after a bad day at work and did not acclaim over it as much as everyone else. 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 and Honda mechanics in every state. Her immediate plans consist of touring the U.S., Canada, and Europe in support of TightRope and working on her yet untitled next album, which against the wishes of whichever esteemed producer she chooses, will probably 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. |