The
BOB GIBSON
 Legacy  Project              

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Look in on the new "official" Gibson Legacy site; www.bobgibsonlegacy.com
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For news about upcoming concerts featuring
The Songs of Bob Gibson
performed by Rick Neeley
go the "calendar" page.
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In 1974 Bob Gibson's daughter, Meridian Green, was asked to compile a bio of her father to be included with the publicity for Bob's forthcoming album Funky in the Country (yes, in 1974, they were still ALBUMS). She showed her first draft to Bob's former partner Hamilton Camp, who proceeded to jump up in frustration saying, "You just don't get it! Your father wasn't just an influence! He invented folk music!"
From "I Come for to Sing" by Bob Gibson and Carole Bender, FolkEra…

Bob probably wouldn't claim that title for himself but his contribution has been largely overlooked by most. In the November 1997 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, featuring a cover story on the 12-string guitar, there was no mention of Bob Gibson. Why? He was a direct influence on a young Jim (Roger) McGuinn, who after seeing Bob at a school concert sought out Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music and then found out about Leadbelly and Pete Seeger. David Crosby mentions in his biography that Bob Gibson was the guy running around the village with this big 12 string guitar showing everyone new changers, chords and promoting the music non stop. Albert Grossman saw Bob perform at the Off Beat Room in 1956 and the idea began to germinate, of a room whose purpose was to be a "listening room" to showcase Gibson and this new folk music. Grossman's vision became the Gate of Horn. It was located in the basement of the Rice Hotel at Chicago and Dearborn streets. Gibson was booked for short run and stayed for 11 months. On subsequent visits Bob brought along Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and others but it was his partnership with Hamilton Camp that created a magic rarely unequaled since. The pairing of Gibson and Camp was the idea of Grossman who envisioned a trio, with 2 guys and a girl? Sound familiar? Gibson and Camp both nixed the idea, once because the girl was taller than both of them according to a local legend! Other than some demo tapes Grossman would have to wait a few years to form his trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. Some of there early material sounds very "Gibsonesque." Could be a coincidence but I doubt it. In 1960 at the Gate of Horn a record was born that achieved legendary status, Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn. Recently re-issued on CD, this "album", it was light years ahead of anyone at that time. Roger McGuinn has put this on his "desert island" list of music and admits that for several years "he wanted to be Bob Gibson". His haunting of the Gate of Horn as a teenager got him discovered by the Limelighters, who graciously waited till he graduated from High School for him to join them in California. McGuinn learned the guitar and banjo skill that garnered him this job at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. (To read more about the Gate of Horn and Bob Gibson check out these sites: www.folkden.com, , www.stringbender.com . ) Albert Grossman left the Gate and moved on to New York and with George Wein, the man behind the Newport Jazz Festival, started the Newport Folk Festival. He became the manager of the stars of Folk Music: Joan Baez, Ian and Sylvia, Gibson and Camp, Glen Yarborough, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Limelighters, and Bob Dylan. Following Dylan into "rock" oriented music he also managed: Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, The Band and others.

Bob Gibson, was described in the 1959 Newport Folk Festival program as, "A phenomenally successful New York businessman at the precocious age of 22 (his brilliant innovations in the management consulting field were acclaimed by the august Harvard Business Review)." In 1953, a friend of Bob's had returned from Paris, where he had met Big Bill Broonzy and heard from Broonzy, of Pete Seeger. He wanted to meet Seeger, so with Bob in tow, headed up to Beacon, New York. They arrived on a Saturday afternoon, Seeger was working on a flagstone chimney, and said they could stay and visit but had to help with the work. They worked all day, until at dusk Pete's wife called them all to dinner after which Pete pulled the banjo off the wall and sang Leatherwing Bat. Bob was hooked. His life was changed. He soon gave up the business world to collect songs, learn the banjo. He began collecting and performing folk songs and soon was editing them. Taking many verses and condensing them into a coherent story with contemporary locution. His first recording was Offbeat Folk Songs, on the Riverside label 1956. (An earlier Stinson demo recording from 1955 was released after he played Carnegie Hall in 1957.) By the time Bob hit Chicago and was seen by Albert Grossman, he had started his transition from traditional performer to professional Folk Singer. He started to do more than write, but continued to perform traditional material with his own special touch. In 1959 he left Riverside and moved to Electra records. In 1961 he and new partner Bob (Hamilton) Camp made one of the best Folk Albums ever. Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn. Songs by Camp, Gibson, and new friend and co-conspirator Shel Silverstein, a cartoonist for Playboy magazine, wrote a song with Bob Camp (The First Battalion) and the liner notes for that album. These few words by Silverstein  capture the essence of the Gate of Horn and in Gibson's own words, "Outsold the record 2 to 1." Ever on the cutting edge, usually ahead of the pack, Bob was hindered by his own substance abuse problem long before it became fashionable. He dropped out of sight just as the really big money and popularity was available. Bob admitted his timing always sucked. His music was often found on albums by the Kingston Trio, Limelighters, Peter, Paul and Mary. Joan Baez used some of Bob's arrangements on her early albums. While in the merchant marine Bob collected calypso material, and shared the Banana Boat Song with the Tarriers. He recorded Michael Row the Boat Ashore in 1957 or so only to wake up one morning, in 1962, to see it had been recorded and "written" by the Highwaymen. Bob was around till 1964 when he released his album "Where I'm Bound". It would be another 6 or 7 years until Bob returned to Chicago from California renewed with new songs, new beard and pony tail. For a year of so he held court at Chicago's Earl of Old Town and fans got reaquainted with each other and Bob. Shel Silverstein dropped in, as did John Denver another singer influence by Bob's early work. He had a kids TV show for a while, perfromed in overalls specially made for him by sponsor Oshkosh. Wrote and performed a tribute to Carl Sandburg, (who Bob thought should have received more credit for getting this whole folk thing started) using Sandburgs love letters and songs from his 'American Song Bag" to fill in the story. After a farewell party with his friends, Bob returned to his daughter Susan's home in Portland, Oregon where he died a week later on September 28, 1996.

For a more complete story of Bob Gibson read: Bob Gibson, I Come For To Sing by Bob Gibson and Carol Bender, Kingston Korner, Inc. A Folk Era Book. www.folkera.com .   

Bob Gibson and the Gate of Horn are only part of the Chicago influence on Folk Music. In 1957 a school was founded in Chicago to teach and share this popular and tradition based musical form. The Old Town School of Folk Music opened in December of 1957 and is still teaching and sharing this wonderful music today.

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This article, written by Tony Spaeth, was published in the on-line publication, FOLK-WAX  from Visionation.  www.folkwax.com.   It was printed here by permission of the author.