Eric and Leigh Gibson, the two men heading up the Gibson Brothers name, are elder statesmen of bluegrass, having been active in the scene since the late ’80s. When the duo topped PopMatters‘ Best Bluegrass of 2011 list, Steve Leftridge wrote, “Eric and Leigh Gibson might have, pound-for-pound, the most impeccably fine-sounding traditional bluegrass band on the contemporary scene.” Not content to rest on their clearly established laurels, the brothers Gibson have taken on the mantle of covering the songs of music’s most legendary brother duos for their forthcoming album Brotherhood. The album features finds the brothers taking on two well known tunes and nine other tracks that have never been available to the public before.
“Bye Bye Love” stands out as particularly apt for Eric and Leigh to cover. You need only stream the track below to see how comfortably this duo slips into the sound of one of folk music’s most legendary duos.
Leigh explains to PopMatters his and Eric’s reasoning for covering this brotherly tune: “One of the Everly Brothers’ most recognizable hits, ‘Bye Bye Love’ has always been a favorite of ours. We hesitated to record it, fearing we could not live up to their great version, but we snuck it into our live shows and received immediate, tremendous response. Halfway through the first line, the audience completely reconnects with the tradition of brother duet singing.”
Brotherhood is slated for a release in late February 2015.