otis gibbs

“Eastside” was recorded a few months ago at Columbia Studio A in Nashville. That’s where Bob Dylan made Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. It’s been closed to the public for decades, but we were given permission to record my new album there. As a lifelong Bob fan, it was an absolutely beautiful experience.

The album is called The Trust Of Crows and it’ll be released in September. You can help me by clicking this link and listening to Eastside on Spotify. Be sure to save it to your library and add it to playlists.

For those of you who dig backstories about songs:

Amy and I moved into our house in East Nashville almost 20 years ago. The day after we moved in, Chuck Mead called and told me about a neighborhood party that we needed to attend. When we showed up, there was a band playing on the front porch of a house. In the front yard, there were about 30 people sitting in lawn chairs facing the porch.

The band was lead by Cowboy Jack Clement. He’d sing a song and then tell a story about recording Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records and recording John Prine at his studio in Nashville. He was hilarious and had endless stories like that between songs.

Then he introduced the great WS Holland on the drums. They’d play a song and then WS told a story about playing on Blue Suede shoes with Carl Perkins. He talked about playing with Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. I couldn’t believe I was witnessing all of this this on a front porch in East Nashville.

There were a few people backing them up, like Chuck Mead, Tim Carroll, Eric Brace, Peter Cooper and maybe a couple other folks.

When they stopped playing, Peter Cooper walked up and started chatting with me. He knew who I was and I knew who he was. He was a journalist for The Tennessean, a songwriter, a music historian and he was also one of Todd Snider’s buddies.

Todd is the patron saint of East Nashville weirdos. At that time, Todd was pretty much the Pied Piper of folk, leading us all to The Land Of Misfit Folk Singers, otherwise known as East Nashville.

When they were done playing, Peter asked me if I’d like to get up on the porch and play a few songs for the people in lawn chairs. I joked with him that following Cowboy Jack on that proch seemed like a really bad career decision. He got the joke and said something along the lines of, “Otis, we’re in East Nashville now. We didn’t get here by making career decisions.”

Well played, Peter.

Later that night, Amy and I were laying in bed talking about the party. Our heads were swimming. It’s scary to move away to somewhere else, but that party was a beautiful affirmation that we’d made the right decision.

We kept saying things like, “This is our new life, now.” Amazingly, that was just the start.

This isn’t necessarily what the song is “about,” this is just what was going through my head as I wrote the song.

Eastside was produced by Otis Gibbs and Thomm Jutz. Thomm went above and beyond and did some heavy lifting to make this record happen. He’s been a wonderful friend over the years and I owe him dear

The band is:

Thomm Jutz -guitar

Dave Jacques -bass

Lynn Williams -drums

Engineered by Sam Jenkins

Mastered by Alex at True East Mastering.

Video is filmed by Todd Fox and Otis Gibbs.

Thank ya kindly to my buddies, Todd Snider, Chuck Mead, Jon Byrd, Butch Primm and Kevin Gordon for being in the video.

This is a completely grass roots/DIY effort and I need your help to spread the word.

Thanks for giving a damn,

-Otis

Listen on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/7ds3HSoTGgsGOA3FZYk3P4?si=fef25ac62f024e4e

Today is kind of a big day around our house. We’re releasing a new song out into the wilds and I made this video to accompany it. We usually celebrate such occasions with pancakes because we’re crazy like that.

Bearded Iris is the first song from my gal, Amy Lashley’s new record, Flatland Blossoms. She wrote it for an old friend of ours that we think about and miss every single day. Anyone who met Miss Iris knows exactly what I’m talking about. She was the best friend anyone could ever hope for. If you are lucky enough to have known the love of a furry sidekick, you’ll understand the sentiment behind this song.

I filmed the video with my buddy, Todd Fox. Our super talented friend, Shelby Kelley made the dog puppet in the video and used his wonderful puppeteer skills to make it come to life.

The song was produced by me and, Thomm Jutz and mastered by Alex McCollough. Here’s a list of the players: Thomm Jutz on guitar, Dave Jacques on bass, Lynn Williams on drums and me on guitar.

The album, Flatland Blossoms will be officially released later this year, but you can buy the CD or vinyl from from this website.

This guy followed me into my hotel room last night near Almelo, Netherlands. We sat up for a while, shared some road stories and had a really nice hang. I told him he could crash on the couch if he wanted, but he said he had somewhere to be. We said our goodbyes and he disappeared into the night. Safe travels, my brother.

I’m playing tonight at an old cathedral in Groningen and tomorrow in a theater in Rotterdam. Both shows are sold out (like every other show on this tour. All but one.)

Hopefully, there’ll be more cat pictures soon.

I have an angel on one shoulder reminding me how fortunate I am to get to tour the Netherlands and see some old friends.

I have a devil on the other shoulder reminding me of the dystopian wasteland that might be waiting for me when I get back home.

2025 problems.

A little over a year ago, I went to Memphis with my buddy, Todd Snider. What could possibly go wrong? He was there to play a benefit show for WEVL and was hoping to reconnect with some old dear friends. I documented the whole wonderful week and made a film about it.

That film debuted one year ago today.

That’s the short story. The longer version goes something like this. Todd and I had been talking about busking as an ideology. Not just standing on a street corner, but using it as a metaphor and applying it to our day to day artistic lives. This is one of the lessons of Woody Guthrie and Joe Hill before him and it’s been at the core of all of my artistic efforts. Sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity.

The point is, you don’t need some big company to give you permission to make art. You can just do it yourself and take it directly to the people. This project is a natural continuation of that idea. We made a film that we’re proud of and then we took it to the people. We put a message in a bottle and threw it into the proverbial ocean to see if anyone might find it.

The people found it.

One year later, over 64,000 people have watched our film. Imagine how many movie theaters you would need to find seats for that many people. Not bad for a project that was held together with duct tape, chewing gum and good intentions.

The entire film was shot by me and my buddy, Todd Fox.

Thanks for giving a damn,

-Otis

www.campwhatthefolk.com

This photo is a self portrait I did a few weeks ago in Terre Haute, Indiana. I got up around 4:30 in the morning and started fumbling around. Amy asked what I was doing and I mumbled something about art, Terre Haute and the beauty of decay. At this point she’s heard quite a few of my speeches, so she just went back to sleep and let my mania play out. I drove to Terre Haute from Indianapolis in hopes of catching the sunrise over the Wabash. All the way there, I kept imagining what Terre Haute was like when Scatman Crothers was still singing on street corners for tips. When record pressing plants were working non stop to fill American record collections. When Eugene Debs sided with an alleged prostitute against the church. When Sinatra brought down the house at The Indiana Theater.

I got there in time to see the sunrise and walked around in the rain for a while. I’m happy with my photo, but that’s not really the point. The most important part of making art (to me), is the excitement of actually doing the thing. It’s fun to get up early and have all of these ideas and possibilities running through your head. Walking around and being lost in your thoughts while attempting to make something. It doesn’t really matter if you made some great piece of art. What matters is that you enjoyed the process of doing it.

I made a video that day that, maybe you’ve already seen it on my youtube channel?

If you’re still reading this, thank you. Maybe you joined one of those record and tape clubs where you get ten albums for a penny? If you did, those records and tapes were pressed in Terre Haute.

Much love to y’all,

-Otis