Telarc
2006
Diamond Days
About This Album
Calm, wise, hushed, and elegant, Diamond Days is in many ways the perfect Eric Bibb album. It features his fine acoustic guitar playing and his soothing, nuanced singing, and it shows an increasingly improving songwriter as well, and the whole affair is all wrapped up with a patient, quietly joyous, and ultimately positive vibe. Bibb's version of the blues has always been like that, patient and positive, and it serves as a reminder that the blues isn't necessarily always about despair, darkness, and ominous guitar riffs but is also built on the concept of survival and moving forward, on the idea of getting through tough times and reaching brighter days. In Bibb's hands the blues becomes sustaining, moving closer to the spiritual uplift of gospel, and the often shaky division between Saturday night blues and Sunday morning praise drops away here. Bibb isn't haunted by personal demons as much as he is by cultural ones. He doesn't have a hellhound on his trail, and he isn't about to go down to the crossroads and make deals with the Devil. Bibb's 21st century version of the folk-blues isn't about that kind of stuff. It's about healing. Song after song here reflects that.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 11)

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