Eric Bibb, playing & discussing Booker White's guitar

See our blog entry with photographs here:
www.inhousefilm...
Delving into our archives we're happy to release for the very first time this full interview with world famous blues musician Eric Bibb.
In the blues, a guitar can be as famous as the man who played it.
B.B. King has Lucille, the curvy hollow-bodied Gibson electric he caresses in concert. Clapton calls his Stratocaster, Blackie.
Then there's the legendary National steel guitar of early Delta bluesman Booker White, a peer of blues pioneer Robert Johnson.
In this previously unreleased film, Eric discusses and plays the instrument described by B.B King as a "holy relic" and known simply as Hard Rock.
The guitar found its way into Eric's arms, in a story that is as legendary as Robert Johnson at the crossroads, as old as the blues itself. A traveling musician has a chance encounter in the most unlikely of places with something mystical and powerful. So it was for Eric Bibb one night after a gig, when he was approached by a fan carrying a guitar case. Inside the case was a relic from the past that made the hair on the back of Bibbs neck stand on end: the actual 1930s vintage Resophonic National steel-body guitar that had belonged to Delta blues legend Booker White. Bibb found himself holding Bookers guitar, and catching a brief but revealing glimpse of all the stories locked within it. The encounter inspired a song, and the song became an entire album; one that captures the spirit of the original Delta blues of the early 20th century and reinterprets it for a new era.
We were given the chance to sit down with Eric and it was an incredible experience to hear him play the guitar and to open up about what it meant to him on a spiritual level.

[@dennisdunlapdunlap9320]

omg I love this .can die happy now, ive live and loved the blues

[@inhousefilms_]

Haha... glad you enjoyed it :)

[@jimjim506]

This guy... He's just superb. Can't get enough.

[@Meymeygwis]

Erik Bibb ~ brilliant musician, beautiful human being!!

[@florencevasantaauboux5642]

absolutely!

[@CezannieMelchor]

Searching on line for a good acoustic blues guitar led me to a guitar he was playing: Gretsch Jim Dandy and discovered Eric Bibb.

[@myfreebluesguitarlessons]

That guitar does sound amazing. I love Nationals. Have three myself.

[@inhousefilms_]

Yeah, it's an amazing instrument for sure :)

[@frederickstobe9500]

Mr Bibb 🔥👍🏻🔥

[@inhousefilms_]

The man... the legend!

[@gortagnan]

Got to revisit Bukka ! Many thanks mr Bibb..

[@mathewdavid4878]

Thank you. This is an amazing video. From: www.vintageguitar.com/27964/booker-whites-1933-national-duolian/ "Hard Rock might have ended up in a pawn shop or worse if it wasn’t for an acquaintance made by White - English photographer Keith Perry, whom he met during a tour of Great Britain. The two shared music, photos, and letters, and became long-term friends. In later years, Perry wrote to White, “If you ever hear of a guitar similar to yours up for sale in the States, I’d be very interested to know about it.” About a year before White died, he wrote back, “Well, you’ve been good to me. You’ve sent tapes and photographs over to me. If you send me the cost of postage and packing, I’ll give you my old guitar.” Eventually, the gift arrived. “Booker had sent it the way it was - the way he had played it in concert,” Perry remembered. “He included everything - the strap was still on there, the bottleneck slide was inside, and even an iron bar he used when performing lap style. Everything was just the way he’d left it - there was even an airline tag bearing his name still attached from his last trip with the guitar.” At first, Perry was reluctant to touch the Duolian, but he soon decided Hard Rock was meant to be used. He shared it around, and has photos of it being played by Knopfler, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, skiffle hero Lonnie Donegan, Dave Stewart, Derek Trucks, Bill Wyman, Don McLean, and others. In 2010, blues man Eric Bibb wrote “Booker’s Guitar” about Hard Rock, and it became the title track to his 2010 CD of the same name. The chorus paid homage to the guitar’s legacy: Booker’s guitar’s got a story to tell Of hard-earned hope and unshed tears Booker’s guitar rings like a bell It’s gonna keep on ringin’ for a thousand years"

[@FirstUsedBooks]

Sounds like Bibb somehow got hold of Bukka's National Steel and took a soap pad to it, and I don't know that it could have gone to a better home.

[@dennisdunlapdunlap9320]

R.J is smiling down on you

[@meredithcarter7559]

I know nothing about this fellow in the video, but I saw Bukka many times during the late 60s up until his death in 77 in and around Memphis and his National Steel was never polished like this. IF this was Bukka's guitar, then it's been modified.

[@davidallen346]

That looks brand new its been cleaned up a lot I bet

[@daveconleyportfolio5192]

Yeah, I've seen pictures where it was held together with Scotch tape.

[@MrJameswingham]

Booker had it re-plated before sending it to an old friend, Keith, in the UK. It is a shame that the marks he'd made were removed, along with the frosted dueco finish. It was like removing it's finger-prints. White obviously meant well!

[@BreadLightPray_EWFMgtr]

so does EB now own this National?

[@katielouise4675]

He sold this guitar in auction last week 70k