A Glimpse Behind The Curtain

[@otisgibbs]

www.patreon.com/otisgibbs Tip jar for anyone who wants to help support this channel. paypal.me/otisgibbs?locale.x=... www.venmo.com/OtisGibbs Paypal: @otisgibbs Venmo: @OtisGibbs

[@kennethbrown7411]

Otis, I grew up on a farm picking cotton and vegetable crops. When I saw a storm coming in I would head to the barn we built with a tin roof. AS the rain came the tin roof/rain lullaby would begin and give me the most restful and comforting feeling ever. Love your work and approach to life. Peace.

[@catheryndenton1766]

I hear this loud & clear. Growing up our horse barn had big sliding double doors on the long side and we'd open them up and get folding chairs and watch it pour in the summertime. Best of times.

[@regunter6599]

I also grew up on a farm, one of the barns had 15-foot-wide doors on both ends. In the summers they would be open all the time. I fondly remember the summer afternoons standing in barn or sitting on the lumber stacked off to one side with the rain coming down and a breeze blowing through it.

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Kenneth! : )

[@williamdavis8161]

I really appreciate that you let the person that you're interviewing talk. A lot of people don't do that. Like your work.

[@g.k.dickenson9259]

Otis, you have the heart and soul of a music journalist. Being the kind of human being you are lends itself to the work you do.

[@djmarvelousmarvinandpamela9733]

Thank you Otis. Time spent with you is well spent.

[@songsmithy07]

You're right. People are watching. And your videos are fantastic. Much love back to you, Ottis.

[@johnvititoe6051]

Otis, You are absolutely right, you may never know how much your KZbin channel may mean to someone out there. I only came across your channel recently and you’re now one of my favorites. You really have a knack for being able to connect. Keep it up, please.

[@danamartin9734]

I love to listen to the rain and also sitting on the porch watching and listening to it

[@otisgibbs]

I'm with ya, Dana!

[@BobL56]

Otis, just letting you know I appreciate, enjoy and care about what you do and the way you do it. Thank you. Mellencamps airplane and all!

[@otisgibbs]

Thank ya kindly, Bob! : )

[@rogermoore126]

"Do Not Stare Too Deeply Into The Abyss - Lest The Abyss Stare Deeply Into YOU" - Friedrich Nietzsche

[@laurenblainebamartistmgt]

Grew up in Oregon so rain was a daily moment. There is nothing more peaceful to me than a good rain or dark storm. “You and me and rain on the roof…”.

[@michaeldefalco4203]

Hey Otis: Thanks for the referral for the Book-Gulf Coast Boys! Have read most of it and it's an amazing read! Love the Townes stories especially!!!

[@HughRailey]

Otis, you are great at doing these interviews. My Daddy said we have two ears and one mouth for a reason, lol

[@RobbyRoberson]

Love your stories !!

[@JacksonDeParis]

I was raised in Nashville; left a few years ago as it was becoming the "it" city. Thanks for your videos, many bring back memories of my youth there. I loved your "Wrong side of Gallatin".

[@theguitargeezer878]

Really enjoy your talks Otis, get myself a cup of coffee and sit down and relax to your conversations.I am Typically an old goat these days enjoying my retirement living up in the mountains of West Virginia. Still enjoy playing my guitar and enjoy your talks. 2 Highlights of my day. Thank you for sharing brother.

[@f81456]

The company we keep.

[@mitchmatthews6713]

After retiring, my dad (God rest his soul) used to sit in the garage during the rain as well. When it wasn't raining, he would spend hours in the backyard watching the birds eat at the feeder. Stay safe, Otis!

[@paulthomasmiller1842]

I was fortunate to spend some time with Al De Lory in Nashville. One thing that he told me was to write "happy songs". He said that "the world needs more happy songs". Every time I write a happy song I think of him.

[@jeremywatson3882]

Hi Otis, I love your posts and storyies, dont change a things, you're making a great difference to alot of people, keep up the great work.

[@castanzes]

Well, for what it's worth, 49th and Melancholy is probably my favorite record of yours. Love The Gallows Tree, East Texas Sutra, Both Sides of the Line, Jolene... I can tell you put your soul on that record!

[@EldenSmith]

Otis I would like to thank you for the bunny trail. 👍👍. And the words of encouragement. I've been watching you for a couple of years now. And it is an awesome thing that you do. By introducing the person you are going to interview.... and then letting them speak. The "Professionals" can take a lesson from you. 👍👍👍. The stories you share are always interesting..... because I know I'm probably not going to hear about it anywhere else. Just like this magazine. Take care Otis. Elden

[@donscott763]

Hey Otis, My Mom taught me about the Symphony of the Rain--all the different instruments you can hear. I love to listen to it every time it plays. A great place to hear it is in the backseat of a car. And a big thanks to turning me on to No Depression.

[@buddylobos5277]

Minneapolis has a large 'connected' Jewish community. I grew up in a suburb near the Cohen Bros. I have many Jewish friends and relatives. The ethos of the Jewish psyche is "dark humor'. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong but somehow works out. Their stories about life & strife & loss & suffering are always sort of a short story that ends with a punch line. Raising AZ was a good one. The CV-19 has redirected my thought process too. Thanks Otis.

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Buddy!

[@troilusand]

You made an important observation. Dr Andrew Weil taught me many years ago that everything we allow into our consciousness affects our state of mind. So being aware of this lets you have some control over your state of mind. Thanks for this video, I enjoyed it.

[@reddirtroots5992]

Thanks for these videos. I always walk away feeling a little bit better, more informed and yes, entertained.

[@ForgottenSongsLRSB]

Thanks for all the good music and stories, Otis. Some good points in this talk especially about keeping on doing things because there is always someone out there who likes what you do even if you never hear from them. You seem to be the kind of guy that many people would love to spend time with, telling stories, playing tunes. So thanks for these opportunities to get a taste of hanging out with you. All the best, Stephen

[@leftwrite]

Listening to the rain as it hits the roof is musical. Coupled with the fresh smell of rain on a spring day...pretty hard to beat.

[@otisgibbs]

You're living right, Rick! : )

[@jerrymullin2058]

1972. I had been playing less than 3 months. My brother Joe was home from the Navy. we went to the local music store to get a nylon guitar. I had saved 60 bucks. Joe found one for 125.00 and payed the difference. His confidence that I would learn to play ment the world to me. Through the years, names got scratched on it. I have collected signatures from family and people who inspired me. You can see a picture of it on my FB page. It hangs on my wall and represents another life.

[@robertwynkoop7112]

Insightful commentary on the interview process. You are successful in this art because you LISTEN….. it is why you are a great songwriter, performer, and artist. The major key to any art form, whether as an artist, musician, physician, writer, interviewer, speaker, or even in introspection is to Listen- to yourself, to your patient, to your audience, to anyone with whom you engage. This is why you love listening to the rain, the plane, the birdsong. This gift has been passed to you, now you pass it on, pay it forward. It is the art of Listening that allows one to be fully present in the Moment. I hear what you say and do. Thanks, much love!

[@otisgibbs]

I appreciate that, Robert!

[@dougkuony5309]

Brother, you hit the nail on the head! We are what we habitually eat and we become what we habitually listen to. Well presented! Thanks.

[@amatullah76]

Hoo boy, "what we consume as witnesses of art affects us." Spot on and particularly timely for me as I consciously (temporarily) step back from some authors and musicians I've always loved. (Hank is at the top of the list and ol' Bukowski is on it too). It's important to spend time in the light. Thanks for affirming that.

[@phaseashuss39]

Really enjoyed this monologue. I can connect with many points made along the way. Listening is a skill much underrated and underappreciated. As your peer, I found Bukowski's The Days Run away like Wild Horses over the Hills in my public library at age 12, and it made me really love poetry. My first listen to Tom Waits, Tuesdays at Midnight ,new release albums got played in full .As i lay abed i heard Foreign Affairs, an album I still keep on vinyl 45 years later. The zine story was good stuff, i still have a collection of 80s zines ,my ex wife did hear own zine on punk rock. thanks for the video this morning

[@washingtonbob49]

Thanks so very much for speaking the truth to our musical lives. As a Northwest singer/songwriter getting some press was important. When The Rocket wrote up my first album," Robert Dobson's Mirror Image" it opened so many doors to me. I was encouraged enough to go to Nashville in 1991 and record another album. That experience was life changing to my art. The Covid-19 virus changed the music landscape in my beloved Northwest. Virtually all the local Mom & Pop music stores went out of business...usually because they could no longer get enough merchandise to sell and local tavern/music venues closed down because they could not do business...now gone forever perhaps.Still...when I pick up my vintage Martin Dred I can sing and play myself into a better space. Your Saturday morning video just makes life that much better. Thank you so much my friend.

[@donscott763]

Thanks so much for Gulf Coast Boys and your music.

[@peterturner8918]

Hey Otis. As you say "You don't know whose watching" Well I am on a farm in Australia on a Sunday night and wanted you to know that your efforts are appreciated by at least one person on the other side of the world. We are upside down compared to you folk in the northern hemisphere, but we don't fall off the earth so we think we are pretty clever. Happy trails, Peter Turner.

[@michaelhager4270]

In the early two thousands, I worked in a little roots based record store called Basement Discs in Melbourne Australia. We would anxiously wait for our 10 copies of ND to come in the mail, then turn on our customers to all the great artists we would read about, and import their records. Now Melbourne has an incredible "Americana" scene and those copies of No Depression are part of the well from which it grew.

[@tvcdboombox1]

Otis, listening to your Saturday postings is like listening to friend.

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Mark!

[@keenosaabi4530]

otis, i loved and identified with what you spoke about after the bit about tin roofs. i traveled the road with a dark cloud over me for most of my life. i am glad and thankful i survived. now about the tin roof, i have grown tired of them. i lived for 15 years on the skagit river in the north cascades, my cabin had a tin roof in a part of the world that gets over 100" of rain in a year, nothing romantic about it drowning out any music you want to play or listen too. the last 5 years i have lived in a 7' x 14' cargo trailer, the entire thing is tin......sheesh what was i thinking. i'm moving into my barn this summer, been working on it for the past 2 summers. it has a shingle roof and all the insulation i could stuff in the walls. i really enjoy spending my saturday mornings listening to your stories, thanks for sharing.

[@GIBKEL]

Fretboard Journal is the only other magazine I can think of that’s small and hits some of those artists and the tools they use. I look forward to it quarterly. Different but a DIY attitude with love at the center of it all. When I was younger, I was also attracted to the darkness; I wanted all that life experience in the form of transmutation. As I’ve grown older, life’s darkness found me and I don’t tend towards that subjects matter anymore. Hell found me. Raising Arizona….the best thing the best!

[@budelmore6286]

Otis, please continue to bring your coffee too, seeing as to how we all have ours. And also thank you for all you do, seeing as to how you are a legend

[@brianmobley1720]

Ain’t nothing like sitting on the porch listening to a good spring rain ☔️ with a little jazz cabbage 🥬 😂 I don’t drink ✌️😎

[@galenbrewer4229]

No Depression was a great, dependable read. I miss those days. You help take up the slack Otis. Thanks so much!

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Galen!

[@jackmongan1410]

Perfect. Otis, this is off- topic a bit, but have you ever done any videos on Steve Goodman ? I love all of the stories on John Prine and, was honored to have met/ know both he and Steve. The more I dig into your site, the more I realize that I have alot of "catching up " to do with your postings so it's possible I missed any Steve Goodman posts. Thanks for everything you do. Keep on Keep'n on. Jm

[@ish474]

I have 2 jobs and work 7 days a week. I look forward to these videos as a little oasis. It matters to me.

[@dougkuony5309]

Holy crap! Two comment on one video! Then you got talking about humor in songs. I know so many songwriters that think what they do is only valid if they're writing about their angst. The world already has enough angst! We're brainwashed to think a negative mindset is being "realistic." You have to grow as an artist in order to be able to incorporate the humor and beauty in life. Thanks for the great video!

[@haint7709]

I can relate. On a large hiatus for mental health reasons. Thanks Otis.

[@edwinbrashear7729]

Good Morning Otis, EXCELLENT!!!! One of your best...I really needed to hear your message this morning! I'm working on a project at this time, another book of "local interest" and have it probably three quarters done and hit a "blue funk snag" in the road & have quit working on it because I was feeling no one really "gives a shit"...I think this presentation has given me a "jump start" Thanks I needed that!!!...PLH-ELB

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Edwin!

[@MrBluoct]

Spent a lot of time sleeping in my friends 1860 40x 80 timber frame barn breeze humming while passing through gaps in the walls , creaking Timbers, rain pounding on the metal roof, varied animals scurrying around the lowest level’s dirt floor A different type of symphony..

[@susiefairfield7218]

Hey Now Otis Lovin ya from sw florida where the weather is the main event in our lives😃 🙏Love the Stories! ..... Dare to leap Where the angels fear to tread Till you are torn apart Stoke the fires of paradise With coals from hell to start...🤘🏾 Grateful for these vids...keep on pickin

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Susie!

[@davidshahan2885]

thanks Otis. I appreciate you and your style of presenting your experiences.

[@laurenblainebamartistmgt]

LOVE Raising Arizona!! Forever classic!

[@groverwindham9761]

Videos like these do a guy like me so much good thanks Otis and greeting from South Carolina

[@oyajiblues]

You are right. Thanks for reminding me. It is the story I crave, not the content. I do interviews for my radio show and I am terrible at it. But then I go off the rails and try not to talk about myself. People chime in that it was a great interview. I think what you want to ask is indeed not what tends to be interesting. Thanks for the pointers.

[@drumsleuth]

When i was having trouble sleeping I pretend i was in a cabin in the woods with the rain on a tin roof it worked I slept. It worked in the Navy when we were in Viet Nam waters sleep was scarce and I needed as much as possible the rain on the dream roof worked very peaceful. Thanks Otis great video.

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Richard!

[@pauljacobs1911]

Yes to enjoying the sound of rain on a metal roof. I used to act like it was the sound of applause, raising my arms and saying "Thank you, thank you!"

[@julesotis13]

thanks for the hope brother Otis.... appreciate your ecnouraging kind caring words about basiclaly my take on your wisdom is its not about the quanity of subcirbers viewers ears eyes etc as much as it is about quality.... if as my one time mentor writer Madison Smartt Bell said if one person tells you they get like appreciate your output stuff thing thats complete validation....also to echo your you never know ill say yesterday i noticed on Facebook, where I have some of the Coppolla family as FB friends, decided randomly to share a post with song video i shared about my lil community radio show yesterday....i thought well how nice and as you say you never know....anyway thanks for being such an amazingly caring sharing kind fun smart artistic ...friend! - Stephen Jules Otis Career Rubin

[@markharwell11]

I dig your stuff Otis.

[@WillieDuitt1]

I spent a rainy season in Costa Rica where you hear that sound almost every day, hard and deafening at times other times like a nice steady drum....it was awesome.

[@MrGlasgow51]

It is true that you never know who you are reaching when you create. From my own little blog, several former MLB players reached out over a baseball piece I had written. I love your channel.

[@eliwebster509]

I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis" also. Made quite an impression on me and changed my view on what a song could be. Of course that was long before I knew anything about TVZ or Guy Clark but it was the beginning of my obsession with songwriting, to say the least.

[@catheryndenton1766]

This is beyond awesome.

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Catheryn! : )

[@artemisXsidecross]

Thank you Otis, I enjoyed your conversation today. It has never been easy to be a musician, artist, or writer when your heart and essence is not in time with a tranquillized public and media. For a writer it may be worse as few use reading as a media. Expectation has wrecked more artists than rejection. Failure is a poor measure.

[@otisgibbs]

Well said, Artemis! : )

[@artemisXsidecross]

@@otisgibbs Below is a quote that all artists and musicians should know: "...‘Finishing’ work, is what gives the artist the humility necessary to begin again… This is the reality of an artist’s existence, and is what gives the artist the awe and respectfulness that is the mark of a good one. Even consumed with purpose, convinced that what they have to say is going to be important for the world, even then, with all that noble fire to create, it is still a process of failing. A process of persevering despite the failures and raising a quiet pride in the ability to keep failing, and hopefully, as Beckett would have it, fail better..." Kae Tempest On Connection

[@billhillyer334]

Otis is cool 👍 bless you mun You make the world a better place to be

[@Barry101er]

Nice way to start the day Otis, take it easy

[@gbaxter6465]

Love this Otis. You do an amazing job with these videos and being a studio owner, I totally understand the stress of trying to control the un-controllable. And you're right about gear. I'm blessed enough to own some heirloom gear but at the end of the day, the performance/content is EVERYTHING. No one cares if it was a U87 or a SM57 when it sounds good. Keep up the good work!

[@erickincaid9779]

I appreciate this one, Otis. I sent it to a couplea friends. I also love Raising Arizona, and I was wondering whether you had thought about making these videos in funny shapes at all?

[@JMarinelli]

Thanks, as always, for the inspiration. ❤

[@bglrj]

Just my two cents. I don't mind about the audio quality. As long as it's discernible, I hope you don't stress over it. It's the energy and content that count. I guess you'd call it the consciousness.

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Gregory!

[@jswjanjan]

Another lovely Saturday morning with our dear friend Otis. Y'all might enjoy How Poems Turn Into Songs on Spotify. ♥️⚘⭐

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Jan! : )

[@leechild4655]

i just noticed a feature you click on a mic symbol and it brings up the lyrics to the song you`re hearing. i happened to be listening to a Yes album, clicked the mic and read the lyrics. how the heck does he come up with these lines and so many how does he remember them all omg.

[@joeurbanowski321]

Nice video…and ultimately deep,Otis..! I’ve always found the rain to be inspirational for playing guitar.. or I guess any instrument.. but I only play guitar.. and bass.. Your “motto “ about interviewing is one that I used every time I got onstage with my band..”Ya just gotta have Faith..” It’s gotten me though every successful gig.. Thanks for this,and all your videos!👍🏼❤️

[@otisgibbs]

Thank you, Joe!

[@99sask]

Great Message, love they way you interview. You sure do have the best job.

[@davidayers8394]

Otis, love to watch your interviews and commentaries. Love your music, too!. Saw one with a friend of mine playing fiddle (Justin). Small world.

[@bradhardisty1652]

I would have thought that No Depression was way bigger. It was kind of Rolling Stone for the Americana movement.

[@otisgibbs]

Here's the link to my new experiment. kzbin.info/www/bejne/epfHdnhsmZhrpas

[@bjorntannberg1581]

It's raining in Stockholm too. A good rain.

[@otisgibbs]

Hell yeah!

[@frydog1ea]

I am pretty sure that I have the first couple years of magazines in a box some where downstairs. Great magazine.

[@dogboyy2k12]

thx.

[@shedbythetracks]

I record my videos in my garage 200 yards from the interstate.. Tell me more about this "quiet" concept. Ha! Really enjoy your videos. Cheers

[@GBinAustin]

Good stuff: how the interview sausage is made. I agree with other comments that at times the audio can be rustic somewhat, but it adds to the authenticity and the kitchen table sense of an interview... adding elements of a more personal nature and texture. My two cents there.

[@joncaradies3155]

Hey ! Just a note that after watching this , I realized that it had been the best half hour that I'd spent in a while ...... Thanks .... :D

[@fldrummerman]

Such a great video. Thank you.

[@jimmyjambon9206]

Outstanding. Thanks.

[@julesotis13]

this looks like one im gonna watch more than once (another one im gonna watch more than once!) thanks - SJOCR

[@jamestibbs6246]

Thank you

[@julesotis13]

missed ya over the wekend getting to do double triple duty on communtiy radio anyway yes the drippin water sund is luffly slow down indeed good advice brother otis

[@MrBluoct]

When’s the next porch jam ?

[@julesotis13]

i know exactly what yorue talking about brother otis in fact as someone who once program and ran a film festival who was very much expecting to perhaps if not expected suceed more in the film world but in recent years pretty much stopped watching most movies and show esp during WuaranTimes....in fact the one show i jsut gladly caught back up with is Better Call Saul...id taken to wwatching stuff like this other livestreamers like us music of course focusing on the radio show and julesworks follies livestream and watching documentary pbs stuff and cool doc stuff on YT anywya YES i get it! sometimes just cant handle the heavy stuff altho sometimes it can be what consoles us and your tom waits example is spot on thanks ! - SJOCR

[@ocean1233]

Great Advice

[@julesotis13]

raising arizone is a feel good place so is o brother where art thou and airplane!

[@jdmtjustdoingmything6657]

It’s funny you mention the artwork factor re: No Depression! I made a record back in 2017. A friend of mine (who is an incredible artist) made the artwork for the record. We based the concept on some of the album’s themes, but, also on the sort of imagery that compelled me in my formative years (imagine yr childhood junk drawer, or, the treasures that were hidden in the tree knot by Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird. Sadly, due to a somewhat devastating long story (I will spare you the details) the album was manufactured but never released. The band shattered into pieces, leaving me with 500 vinyl and 1000 CDs, dozens of t-shirts and stickers etc… Anyways, bc I never released the record (haven’t yet anyways) the only piece of press I received was from No Depression! I gotta believe it was the artwork that caused them to review what was supposed to be my debut album. I was thrilled that they listened to it! It was a positive review as well. Sadly, the band that I had put together was built on my closest friendships, and, everybody jumped shop before we could do anything with the record. Woof.

[@bogthing1]

Mellencamp, haw! You should interview Dave Grissom and discuss that Indiana flava...

[@brianmobley1720]

I’d put you up there with Johnny Carson my friend ! You rock the interviews ✌️😎

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Brian! : )

[@samhardy2038]

Another good one. I get it. Thanks

[@otisgibbs]

Thanks, Sam!

[@Westernerd1]

The South has Faulkner and Twain. The Midwest has Otis Gibbs.

[@Kan-o-tex]

It’s kind of like that joke that only a hundred people bought the first Big Star record but they all started a band. You never know who is being inspired (or repelled) by you.

[@donaldlafond6934]

Hello Otis,found you around a year ago. I listen. Do you ever get to the Ann Arbor area? Thank you for what you do.

[@ElroyBeezley]

I think Daveys closed recently

[@Grumpy1001]

You do an excellent job by my estimation. I’ve always enjoyed what you do. You could teach Steve Earle and Mojo Nixon a thing or two about knowing when to shut up and listen….

[@julesotis13]

i care!

[@julesotis13]

Inspiration Life Saving Friendly Tips with Brother Otis Gibbs