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This week, Jontavious Willis selected Henry Gip Gipson as the person deserving our attention.
Mr. Henry Gip Gipson is several things, one of the foremost is bluesman. The succinct two-paragraph biography below is found in the description of the video that follows (dated June 19, 2012).
Henry Gipson grew up in Uniontown, Alabama, some 80 years ago. He worked at the Pullman Standard Railcar Company in Bessemer for 25 years, then began working for a funeral home, digging graves. Gip now owns his own cemetery, the Pine Hill Cemetery, about 15 miles west of Birmingham. He still digs the graves himself.
In Bessemer, Alabama, there sits a tiny little secret. Right in the backyard of Henry Gipson’s home sits a tin-covered shack, a tiny piece of long lost blues history: the juke joint. Gip’s Place, nothing more than a dilapidated building, is packed most Saturday nights. Patrons tend to file in, bringing their own coolers to see who is going to show up and play that night. They munch on fish that was fried in a kettle out in the yard. They sit in rickety old chairs that were seemingly acquired from the funeral home Gip used to work at. They come for the blues.
“You need to be [t]here to see it, and you need to be [t]here to get the feeling of what’s in your heart” but this is a good introductory video.
Mr. Gip playing at his place during the day, November 2011.
Mr. Gip at the Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, Mississippi, April 12, 2014.
Mr. Gip at Old York 2nd Annual Blues and BBQ Festival in Oakman, Alabama, February 2016.
Mr. Gip, the real bluesman, 2013
There’s a movie about him, called Gip. Gravedigger by Day. Party Animal by Night.
Here’s an article from NPR.
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Mr. Gip’s Place opened in 1952; it’s a comfortable place to hang out and jam. That’s reflected in the mood of this videos made there. Rob Harris playing “See, See Rider” in February 2014.
This links to Mr. Gip’s YouTube channel, featuring videos of the many people who have played at his place.
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To find out where Jontavious is playing, check his website (link in first mention of his name at top). His debut album, Blue Metamorphosis, can also be found there.Here’s my playlist of his music, including three videos I was present to make, but subscribe to his channel to keep up-to-date.
Because my posting of these lagged, I changed the description from “week” to “part.” I hope and plan to keep it more regular.
Don D.
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