Eric Bibb (US)

The ultimate “blues brother”, Eric Bibb is known and revered globally as a fiery singer- songwriter with true soul, grounded in the folk/blues tradition but with contemporary sensibilities.

Testament to his endurance as one of the most relevant, leading bluesmen of our time, Eric’s most recent album, Ridin’ has received a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. It sits in the Top 10 of multiple blues and roots charts, has over three million Spotify streams and has been lauded by critics as his “late life classic” and “a fervent gospel-backed blues manifesto”. The past twelve months alone has seen his entire catalogue clock up 15 million streams.

It is easy to point to Eric’s accomplishments. A five-decade career recording with folk and blues royalty. Three Grammy nominations and multiple Blues Foundation awards. A following that not only crosses borders, it crosses continents. But what Eric Bibb is about is much, much larger than that.
To experience Eric live is to be struck by his sheer humanity and convictions based in the values of the civil rights movement of the sixties. His music works in service of that dream, holding out a hope for a new world. He challenges us to do better, to reach higher, and strive harder. Like Mavis and Pops Staples, he wants to take us there.

Eric carries this mantle honestly. His father, the late Leon Bibb, was an activist, actor, and folk singer who marched at Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King. Eric’s youth was spent immersed in the Village folk scene. Names like Dylan, Baez, and Seeger were visitors to his home. He was deeply influenced by Odetta, Richie Havens, and Taj Mahal. And he has synthesised all of that into his very own style.
Eric is an artist who preserves the best traditions of pre-war blues, even while he expands his own oeuvre.

As Blues Brother actor, Dan Aykroyd famously declared to the American born singer, ‘You are what the blues in the new century should be about.’
Eric sings of the Freedom Train. He believes it. He lives it. He wants to take us on that ride. Maybe you already have your ticket. But if you haven’t, no need to worry. There’s still time to get on board.