Big Swig returns
By Steve Gillespie
Big Swig, the band led by Meridian-born Arlan Gibson, will play the Echo Lounge, 2104 C St., in Meridian this Friday and Saturday.
Big Swig was the band that won the Battle of the Bands competition during Meridian Mardi Gras in February.
Friday also is Gibson's 41st birthday.
"It's my birthday and my hometown, which makes this gig even more special," Gibson said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Based in Atlanta, where Gibson has lived since 1989, Big Swig is currently looking for a label for a collection of 10 original songs. Gibson is the band's singer/songwriter and front man.
"I spent a year recording it with some of the best musicians in the South," Gibson said. "They all play with some of the biggest names in country music."
The CD has Gibson on lead and harmony vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, Chris Blackwell on lead and rhythm guitar, Jaff Brewer on bass, Tommy Dodd on pedal steel, Jonathon McAdow on drums, Dave Schliesmann on piano and organ and Rob Tyler on fiddle.
Gibson is a 1986 graduate of West Lauderdale High School.
He credits Meridian as a rich start for his musical career, being the home of Jimmie Rodgers, Steve Forbert and other well-known musicians. He also comes from a musical family.
Gibson describes his sound as honkabilly.
"It's an overwhelmingly countrified semi-traditional to alternative-country thing but there are elements of other genres as well such as rock, pop and southern rock. It rocks but it’s very honky tonk at the same time," he said.
"I really enjoy entertaining people. I love to see them smile and dance and enjoy what we’re doing. There is obviously a feeling people get from seeing and hearing live music and being the one that gives them that feeling is a great feeling itself."
One of Gibson's earliest musical memories is carrying around a clunky tape recorder when he was about 5 or 6 years old, playing a cassette tape of the Johnny Cash album, "Orange Blossom Special."
By the time he was 15 and preoccupied with music and the guitar, Gibson's main influences were guitar-driven bands like ZZ Top, .38 Special and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
He lists his current favorite artists and who he is listening to as Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean, The Lost Trailers, Blake Shelton, and Kenny Chesney.
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