Eric Bibb’s new album is both a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and a homage to the original “blues people,” the Afro-American creators of a style celebrated today as part of the common heritage of mankind.
“Blues People” is an album voluntarily bare, haunted by the spirit of the blues. Many good friends managed to join the recording sessions and brought their own contributions. They include The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Taj Mahal, J.J. Milteau, Popa Chubby, Ruthie Foster, Harrison Kennedy, Leyla McCalla, André De Lange and Guy Davis.
A live tour called “We Have a Dream” dedicated to Martin Luther King and featuring Harrison Kennedy and Ruthie Foster alongside Eric Bibb will take place in Germany, Austria and Switzerland next November in order to introduce this new album. The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Taj Mahal, J.J. Milteau, Popa Chubby, Ruthie Foster, Harrison Kennedy, Leyla McCalla, Guy Davis and André De Lange.
Here are the words Eric Bibb uses to introduce himself his new album : In the introduction to his classic book, “Blues People”, Amiri Baraka (who published it as LeRoi Jones) wrote:
“The path the slave took to ‘citizenship’ is what I want to look at.”
That same path is the inspiration for this album called BLUES PEOPLE. This record is also a tribute to the tribe of blues troubadours that I’m grateful to be a member of – featuring the talents of several friends and heroes of mine. We, who traverse the highways and skyways of the planet playing the music we know of as blues, are a rainbow tribe. We hail from many lands and cultures, making the language of the blues are own.
Rising out of the fields of the southern United States, blues is now a universal treasure, cherished the world over. My intention with thesesongsistofocuson someof the historyof African Americans, theoriginal blues people, as a reminder of who and where the music comes from.
Dr. Martin Luther King is one of my greatest heroes. The Civil Rights movement that he is synonymous with is referred to in several songs on this album. I hope these songs will remind us that Dr. King’s dream is still a work in progress – we are still not home. May the New Year bring us closer to living that dream.