i am sitting on the starboard
of your only way
back home




Jana%20Pochop
Quantcast



follow janapochop at http://twitter.com


follow supermerchgirl at http://twitter.com

www.flickr.com








Subscribe in a reader

Jana Pochop
Jana Pochop
Promote Your Page Too

Join My Community at MyBloglog!
StumbleUpon
Add to Technorati Favorites
podsafe music network


Friday, February 12, 2010

Time Machine: Freshman Year of College

Scene of the class: Keller Hall

This article is not one I remember reading back then, because I just showed up to class one day and didn't know what to expect. This was when I was a freshman in college and the class Susan performed in was my Music Appreciation 139 class. Thanks for my awesome current job, Professor Kostur, wherever you are...

Dixie Chicks writer finds her own space - Albuquerque Journal
November 02, 2001 Byline: Kevin Hopper FOR THE JOURNAL

"I'm Susan the-girl-who-wrote-'Wide-Open-Spaces' Gibson now. Until I do something else."

So says Susan Gibson talking about her place in the country/folk music industry and what she has to overcome now that she is on her own. The "Wide Open Spaces" she refers to is the smash hit Gibson wrote for the Dixie Chicks' 1998 debut album of the same name. The album went on to sell 11 million copies and gather many top awards, including a Grammy for Country Album Of The Year.

While her song propelled the Dixie Chicks toward country greatness and became a bona fide commercial success, the Amarillo native's own music, which until recently has largely been made with her band the Groobees, tends to stick a little closer to the ground.

"I feel really good about 'Wide Open Spaces' and its commercialness," Gibson said in a recent telephone interview. "And I feel good about the Dixie Chicks doing it, but the fact that that seems to be what you have to emulate in order to find a place (in the music industry), I don't like that."

The Groobees split up in May, and rather than take an extended and much-deserved hiatus, Gibson has hit the road and will perform a number of gigs in Albuquerque, starting tonight with a performance at Kellys Brewing. She plays Saturday at Tractor Brewing Company in Las Lunas and again in Albuquerque Sunday at Johnny's Restaurant.

In addition to that, Gibson is taking time to drop by music appreciation class at the University of New Mexico this morning.

"I'm still kind of in the midst of extricating from the Groobees, but I felt compelled, even if it was for my own good, to (continue performing)," Gibson said. "It would have been easy to find a lot of reasons to take a break. It was important for me to not quit just because the Groobees did."

Gibson is due in the studio in early March and shows a strong interest in breaking away from both the Groobees and her status of "the girl who wrote 'Wide Open Spaces.' '' The 29-year-old Gibson said she respects folk-legend-in-the-making Ani DiFranco and ideally would like to pattern her career after DiFranco's.

Gibson's resolve to form a new identity will probably come to her much easier than most other artists. She's already got a country hit and a stable of Groobee songs that display her songwriting abilities.

Unfortunately, she has to deal with an industry that molds and shapes artists as it sees fit. Gibson again alluded to DiFranco and her ability to be seemingly in total control of her own destiny.

"The number one thing that Ani DiFranco does is believe what she says and stands by her guns," Gibson stated emphatically. "I mean, that's No. 1. That's human."

Labels: , ,