Some singers have voices that sound lived in. Otis Gibbs has such a voice and he treads the well trodden path of the American troubadour with protest and sentiment for company. Or maybe that is what he would have you believe.
Either way, it's a very reasonable approach to take. That sentimentality is most clearly expressed in "When I Was Young" looking back as it does with rose tinted glasses at those better days. There are also times when Mr Gibbs runs right down the middle of Nashville Main Street with a modern day country song like "Kansas City" which is the kind of tune that you would expect from the likes of Bob Cheevers. That is perhaps the difference between an old style troubadour like Woody Guthrie and Otis Gibbs as reflecting on the state of the world no longer provokes anger and instead provides the inspiration for a set of remarkably well written - and I would imagine commercially viable - songs with "The Town That Killed Kennedy" being probably the best example of a song for people with cowboy boots that never get dirty.
"Joe Hill's Ashes" is a well performed album that wasn't quite what I expected (that's what you get for reading the PR blurb…). Otis Gibbs is in fine voice throughout and I wouldn't be surprised if some up and coming country star seeking a splash of credibility decided to cover a few of his songs.