LESS THAN SEVEN YEARS AGO, Joel Gibson Jr.’s wife convinced him to start playing his music publicly for the first time.
This month, he’s releasing his third album with a sold out show in the Beach Rock Lounge at Clearwater Casino June 7 and a second show added June 8, along with an IPA brewed for the album by a local brewery, a Malbec made for the album by a local winery and a handful of local shows before his first official tour thru California, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming with four nights headlining the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole over Fourth Of July.
“Never would’ve thought in a million years I’d be doing what I’m doing now,” Joel said. “It could all end tomorrow and I’d be happy for what it’s been.”
For all the bravado in his songs, he seems like a soft-spoken guy. He grew up with a lifelong love of music. “How do I say this?” he thinks aloud. “It’s my lifeblood. Music’s always been there for me… even when people aren’t, music always has been.” Early influences range from country, classic and southern rock to teenage years spent listening to ‘new metal, or whatever you want to call it,’ he says. He brings up Merle Haggard, AC/DC and ‘Down With The Sickness’ by Disturbed. He got a guitar when he was 17, learned songs, wrote songs, and played for family and friends over the years.
Until about six and a half years ago, when his wife, Brittney, signed Joel up unbeknownst to him, to open for another musician at the Silverdale Beach Hotel. She came home and said, ‘You’ve got a gig Friday night.’
“And It was not multiple choice,” Joel laughs. “Then, after the show that night, the bartender came up and said we want you to do a full-time gig… And Brittney said yes.”
Starting from ‘absolute scratch’ he says, they bought a PA and Joel started playing open mics and different gigs around town, building his confidence and a crowd. In 2019, he posted an acoustic cover of the Luke Combs song ‘Beautiful Crazy’ which racked up some 30-thousand views on YouTube, spiking an online following. Locally, he put together a band of rotating members, out of necessity to get bigger gigs, he said, and then… pandemic.
So, he started doing live online performances and called them ‘Couch Concerts.’ Then, they took that idea one step further and put together ‘The Tailgate Tour,’ where anyone could book Joel to come to your house for a ‘socially distanced’ concert from the tailgate of his pickup truck.
“It took off,” Joel said. “I think we did 60 of them that year, I think 16 in the first weekend. Again, out of necessity, we were the only ones playing live, and it spread word of mouth. It was like, ‘Hey, this dude Joel Gibson Jr. will come play in your driveway or on your property,’ or whatever. And it just took off. This is our fifth year doing it.”
That whole blue collar idea fits the music perfectly. Known for his Solo Cup-raising covers, he’s also got albums’ worth of original material. You can hear the backwoods bonfire party in a lot of his songs. The big trucks. The cowboy boots. Cold beer and Jack Daniels. The small town pride. “The Boys and girls, born and raised in backwoods small town USA” he sings on his last album ‘Small Town Truth.’
That album, from 2021, was recorded at the legendary grunge-era, Seattle-area Robert Lang Studios. His newest album—“Eclectic Outlaw” out June 8—was recorded at London Bridge.
“To be in a room where so many iconic albums have been recorded–you’re surrounded by Screaming Trees, and, you know, Pearl Jam, just countless, Blind Melon, the list is immense–to step into a room where all these people recorded was magical,” Joel said. “It’s a piece of our authenticity but I really wanted to record at those studios… Naturally, it’s like ‘When are you gonna record in Nashville?’ But I think there’s plenty of talent and iconic spaces right where we are at. It meant a lot to me to be able to do that.”
Joel grew up in Seabeck, graduated from Klawhoya. He and Brittney, and their 17-year-old son Bryce, still live in Silverdale. When he’s not recording albums or playing shows around the county, and now around the country, Joel’s got a government job. He works as a local safety specialist for the Department of Defense. He’s been there for 17 years, but still a number of years off from retirement.
“So, I’ll play a show then I’m up at 5:30 for work,” he said. Which, sounds to me like the start of another country song. // BILL MAN
JOEL GIBSON JR.’s ‘Eclectic Outlaw’ release June 7-8 at the Beach Rock Lounge at Clearwater Casino. Eclectic Outlaw Malbec release June 12 at Olalla Vineyard & Winery. Eclectic Outlaw IPA release June 13 at Rainy Daze Brewing. More at joelgibsonjrmusic.com
