Qwest TV Shines Spotlight on Bluesman’s Unique Story
A unique and fascinating film about blues guitarist Eric Bibb will have its premiere on Qwest TV by Quincy Jones on October 8.
A unique and fascinating film about blues guitarist Eric Bibb will have its premiere on Qwest TV by Quincy Jones on October 8.
Tales From A Blues Brother is a deep reflection on race, music and identity, in both America and the wider world. Half performance, half oral history, Eric delves into Civil Rights memories, police brutality, immigration tensions and, most importantly, how music has the power to cut through all the pain and conceive of a better future.
Son to Legendary folk singer and activist Leon Bibb (who knew Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), and nephew to the great composer John Lewis (Modern Jazz Quartet), Eric Bibb is a child of the Civil Rights movement who grew up surrounded by great musicians and the African-American repertoire.
He got his first steel-string guitar aged 7 and received personal advice from Bob Dylan not long after.
Now a Grammy-nominated veteran in his own right, Bibb has always had a conflicted relationship with his country of birth — he’s seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Born in 1951 in New York, the thunderbolt of sixties folk revival remains so alive in the 69-year-old’s memory, but so too do the dark flashpoints of the previous year, the protests, the violence, the bitterness.
In 1970s Sweden he found a more tolerant society. A place where his color and origins didn’t matter, where he wasn’t constantly reminded of America’s violent history.
But now, 40 years later, dark winds are blowing that he recognizes all too well, with Muslim immigrants more and more likely to be targeted.
Tales From A Blues Brother is a fascinating visual autobiography made from incredible footage of old bluesmen, personal anecdotes of police brutality, histories of the Civil Rights Movement and captivating musical performances.
Bibb is an excellent storyteller: charming, poignant and urgent in his message — history makes us who we are but we must not let it repeat itself.
Instead, as Eric says, we must work towards positive change: “My driving wheel is this vision I have in my heart and my heart and my soul of a new world coming through. It is real for me, I see signs of it everywhere I go. There’s hope, that is what I’m trying to say.”
Bibb recently released ‘Dear America’ via Provogue Records.
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