I’ve never had the chance to meet Otis Gibbs, but I’m loving him anyhow. Both his records and his podcasts have meant a great deal to me and have kept me company for hours and hours.
Otis Gibbs recorded a new album on his 50th birthday in his living room. The album is called Mount Renraw and it came out on the 13th of January. It’s obviously rather stripped-down and bare, but this is actually a perfect fit to these songs. Otis Gibbs is a folksinger and a teller of real American stories. Mount Renraw is an excellent album and might even turn out to be my favourite Otis Gibbs release. You can a grap copy from his website or bandcamp.
There’s a lot of great songs and stories to choose from, but I think my early favourite is this one below. This is a story about Sputnik Monroe. A professional wrestler from the fifties who refused to wrestle unless his black friends were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted. This eventually led to first desegregated sporting events in the southern states. Thanks for the great song and history lesson Otis and thanks Sputnik for standing up for what is right.
And here’s also an official video for the song.