Eric Bibb: New Beale Street Blues

Duke Ellington was known to use the term "without category" as high praise. In the current music scene, where every song is labeled and pigeonholed even before the recording session begins, we need more artists who break out of the imposed categories. Eric Bibb is one such performer. Some will call him a blues singer, but he doesn't always reach for the turnaround after twelve bars. Others will try to tag him as a folk or pop or New Age performer, and certainly there is a good dose of jazz in a track like "New Beale Street Blues." In truth, Bibb operates in the interstices between these styles. It's what popular music would sound like if record labels were twice as smart and half as greedy. They don't have a bin for that in your local CD store (the Smart Popular Music section?) - but they should!