BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//NONSGML Sandhills Development\, LLC//NONSGML Sugar Calendar Fe eds v3.4.0//EN X-WR-CALNAME:The Gibson Brothers X-WR-CALDESC:Portland Downtown X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20220504T080000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20220504T080000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Gibson Brothers DESCRIPTION:ADVANCE PURCHASE: $30\nAT THE DOOR: $40\n10% MEMBER DISCOUNT \n\nBluegrass royalty Leigh and Eric Gibson step into what some might at first see as uncharted territory on their country-soul breakout Mocking bird\, the new album produced by Grammy Award winners Dan Auerbach and F ergie Ferguson. The celebrated bluegrass duo — named back-to-back Ente rtainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2012 and 2013 — played the Nashville game two decades ago\, while in their early 20s\, and were offered a major label deal\, only to be told at the last minute that they were too “retro” for modern country mus ic. Today\, such characterizations\, along with their authenticity\, set them apart and describes the marvelous Mockingbird.\n\nA mix of country \, soul and seventies rock\, the album further cements the sibling duo a s musical trailblazers. As players and vocalists\, they are superb\, har monizing as only siblings can\; as songwriters they stand without peer\, having long been a band awarded for their songs and songwriting. The 11 tracks on Mockingbird\, their 14th album\, draw on much of the brothers ’ experiences being raised on the family farm in Northern New York. As Northerners growing up in a Southern business\, they had to work twice as hard as the bands from the South to achieve the success they had\, an d were the first from that far north to carve a path to IBMA Entertainer s of the Year.\n\n“The songs on this album are the sounds we heard gro wing up\, riding around with our dad\, who was a farmer\, in his pickup\ , or with our mom in her station wagon. This sound was on the radio\,” says Leigh\, citing the Eagles\, Bob Seger\, Tom Petty\, and the warm c ountry sounds of Don Williams\, Emmylou Harris and Waylon Jennings as in fluences for Mockingbird\, produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach wi th Fergie Ferguson (Johnny Cash\, Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers).\ n\nSongs like “Cool Drink of Water” and “Love the Land” exemplif y that late-Sixties and early-Seventies vibe. The former sounds like som ething Elvis\, at the height of his ’68 Comeback cool\, would have rec orded\, while “Love the Land” is inspired by the simple desire to sp end more time in nature. “I love the land that loves this man / and se ts his soul at ease\,” goes the centerpiece lyric. The song also provi des the album with its title\, as Leigh sings about the “song so sweet ” of the mockingbird. “They’re an interpreter of different sounds and that’s what we’re doing here\,” says Leigh. “We’re known f or one sound\, but we’re interpreting another part of our musicality. \n\nColoring outside the lines is not unfamiliar to the Gibson Brother s\, whose innate talent as writers and vocalists allows them to float se amlessly between genres. In that way\, they’re outsiders — refusing to be confined to just one sound – which is why they chose to work wit h a rock producer and a band of legendary session players like drummer G ene Chrisman and guitarist Billy Sanford for Mockingbird.\n\nListen to Come Down\,” which evokes the 70’s sound of radio rock kings Ameri ca or the passionate Exile on Main Street style R&\;B of “Lay Your Body Down.” Both dispel any notion that the Gibsons are solely a blueg rass act and prove Eric and Leigh’s gift for penning boundary-pushing songs. Likewise\, “Sweet Lucinda\,” with its shuffling rhythm\, taps into country-rock\, and “I’m a Better Man” slinks along with Bobb y Wood’s Wurlitzer electric piano.\n\nMockingbird‘s most left-field track\, however\, is a cover of R.E.M.’s 1993 weeper “Everybody Hurt s.” Suggested by Ferguson\, the ballad became the ideal duet for Leigh and Eric\, with the brothers making the song their own via their yearni ng delivery and the house band’s lush arrangement. “I think it’s a beautiful song\, but I couldn’t picture us doing it\,” says Eric. It surprised me with how it turned out. It was too good to not put on the record.”\n\nThe members of R.E.M. certainly agree. “It’s incre dible! They did a great job\,” says vocalist Michael Stipe. “It real ly re-focuses the song and lyric in a great way.” Bassist Mike Mills o ffers\, “Wow. I really didn’t see that one coming. I love it\,” wi th guitarist Peter Buck echoing those remarks: “Wow. Incredible.” Ev en Bill Berry\, R.E.M.’s former drummer\, and one of the original writ ers of the song\, chimes in\, saying\, “It’s the best cover of it I ve heard.”\n\nHowever\, it’s “Travelin’ Day\,” the countries t song on Mockingbird\, that packs a poignant punch. The first tune they wrote with Ferguson for the session\, it was born of grief: Ferguson’ s stepfather had just died. The Gibsons lost their dad six years earlier and together the writers bonded over their loss. “We were talking abo ut how Ferg’s stepfather faced death and how impressive it was\,” sa ys Leigh\, “and it really inspired us.”\n\nLooking back on the brisk week and a half of writing and recording Mockingbird in Nashville\, the Gibson Brothers are confident in what they’ve accomplished. This is a n album that exemplifies the sibling bond and is poised to introduce the m to an entirely new audience.\n\n“We’ll be able to reach more peopl e than we have in the past\,” says Eric. “I don’t want to downplay what we accomplished in bluegrass\, but I didn’t know our voices woul d suit this variety of music so well.”\n\nHis brother agrees. “If yo u thought you knew the Gibson Brothers and had them figured out\,” Lei gh says\, “well\, maybe you didn’t.” URL;VALUE=URI:https://portlandmaine.com/events/the-gibson-brothers/ UID:urn:uuid:d2c12fde-9648-4c0f-93a0-bd4f1292cd18 STATUS:CONFIRMED ORGANIZER: DTSTAMP:20260525T054329Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221102T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221102T220000 LOCATION:181 State St.\, Portland\, Maine 04101\, US END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR