Harp virtuoso and talented vocalist from Memphis, called “The Prince of Beale Street”,

2009 Winner of the Blues Music Award Instrumentalist Of The Year - Harmonica

(very prestigious distinction for bluesmen, former W.C. Handy Award)

 

Billy Gibson first picked up the harmonica at a very young age. “It was cheap and I could easily make sounds with it.” After high school, Gibson’s desire for learning and improving as a musician took him to Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he played with blues guitarist Johnnie Billington and drummer Bobby Little in Billington’s group The Midnighters.

 

Like many before him, Gibson eventually left Mississippi for Memphis. “Beale Street was my university of blues,” recalls Gibson, referring to the lessons learned as a Beale Street performer.

“For a young musician, all you have to do is look and listen and you can learn so much.”

 

Billy Gibson was the member of bluesrock band Junkyardmen. He has made guest appearances on a few artists’ CDs including Deborah Coleman’s Soft Place To Fall (Blind Pig 2000) and Michael Burks’ I Smell Smoke (Alligator 2003). Around the same time, Gibson received a BA in music from the University of Memphis. He is the author of six CDs (two of them show his jazz fascinations) and one DVD.

Gibson’s career has been a constant progression and immersion into many genres of music, with blues being the foundation and primary inspiration of his artistic endeavours. Gibson’s talent and commitment have not gone unrecognized. In 1999 he received an endorsement from Hohner, his harmonica of choice. In 2005 he got the title of the Beale Street Entertainer of the Year. Next year he became Nominee to the Blues Award as Best New Artist Debut for the CD: “The Billy Gibson Band” and in 2009 he received the Blues Music Award for the Instrumentalist Of The Year - Harmonica. In 2009 he took part in the Bluzapalooza Tour visiting the American troops in Iraq and Kuwait.

 

Billy Gibson and Magda Piskorczyk met for the first time during Magda’s visit in Memphis. In Summer 2010 they gave 22 concerts in one month - throughout Poland, Germany and Czech Republic. Magda Piskorczyk’s album “Afro Groove” presents almost 80 minutes of the concert recorded in Poland during this tour.