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Billy Gibson

"Beale Street was my university of blues."

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, Billy 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 Johnnie Billington’s group The Midnighters. "Johnnie and Bobby taught me how to make it in this business," Billy Gibson recalls. Like many before him, Billy Gibson eventually left Mississippi for Memphis. "Beale Street was my university of blues," recalls Billy 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’s talent and commitment have not gone unrecognized. He received an endorsement from Hohner, his harmonica of choice in 1999. He has made guest appearances on national recording 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, Billy Gibson received a BA in music from the University of Memphis. Billy 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 endeavors.

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