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About this video
Recorded July 1997 at the Elks' Dixie Bluegrass Festival near Hattiesburg, MS.
About the artists
For Eric (b. 1970) and Leigh (b. 1971), their talent was developed as youngsters
on an upstate New York dairy farm.
"There's not a lot to do up here," Eric laughs. "Playing baseball and playing
music were pretty much it. I got interested in the banjo -- I heard Earl Scruggs on
the Flatt & Scruggs At Carnegie Hall album -- and started taking lessons at a
local music store. Leigh was playing guitar, so I was the one that kind of drove us
toward bluegrass."
The two began playing together in 1983.
By 1994, they had hooked up with Mike Barber on bass, and his dobro-playing
dad, Junior, and recorded their first album, Underneath a Harvest Moon.
Serving notice that the sibling harmonies of predecessors like the Louvin
Brothers and the Everly Brothers were being carried forward by a new
generation, the CD earned them a 1995 showcase appearance at the
International Bluegrass Music Association's annual World of Bluegrass and, in
short order, a contract with Virginia's Hay Holler Records.
The Gibson Brothers' career moved rapidly after that. In three years time, they
released well-received albums in successive years (Long Forgotten Dream,
Spread Your Wings and Another Night of Waiting.)
Encouraged by fan response to the albums and live shows, Eric and Leigh made
making music a full time job.
1998 was a triumphant year for the brothers, as Another Night of Waiting took off
(it eventually spent close to a year on Bluegrass Unlimited's airplay-based chart)
and they earned the IBMA's emerging artist of the year award. The future looked
bright for the duo, and they capped off the year by signing with Ricky Skaggs'
Ceili Music but eventually found a label home on Sugar Hill Records.
Their album Bona Fide (2003) found the brothers reuniting with long-time bass
player Mike Barber and adding mandolinist Marc MacGlashan to their band.