Bibb's father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name for himself as part of the 1960s New York folk scene; his uncle was the jazzpianist and composer John Lewis, of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Family friends included Pete Seeger, and actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson, Bibb's godfather. He was given his first steel-string acoustic guitar at age seven. Growing up surrounded by talent, he recalls a childhood conversation with Bob Dylan, who, on the subject of guitar playing, advised the 11-year-old Bibb to "Keep it simple, forget all that fancy stuff". Bibb remembers from his early teen years:
I would cut school and claim I was sick. When everyone would leave the house I would whip out all the records and do my own personal DJ thing all day long, playing Odetta, Joan Baez, the New Lost City Ramblers, Josh White.
When Bibb was 16 years old, his father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show Someone New. Bill Lee, who played bass in this band, later appeared on Bibb's albums Me To You and Friends. In 1969, Bibb played guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Place in New York. He went on to study psychology and Russian at Columbia University, but did not finish these studies. The next year, aged 19, he left for Paris, where he met guitarist Mickey Baker who focused his interest on blues guitar. Bibb moved to Stockholm, where he immersed himself in pre-war blues and the newly discovered world music scene, while he continued to write and perform. Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and the American label Earthbeat. Bibb signed to the British-based Code Blue label, but only released one album, Me to You, featuring appearances from some of his personal heroes, Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal. This was followed by tours of the UK, US, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany. , Italy, in 2000 In the late 1990s Bibb joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson to form Manhaton Records in Britain. The albums Home to Me, Roadworks and Painting Signs followed, as did the 2005 releases for Opus 3, Just Like Love and Spirit & the Blues . After that, he made A Family Affair with his father, Leon Bibb. This was followed by Natural Light, then Friends, which contained 15 tracks featuring Bibb duetting with friends and musicians he had met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara. In 2004, Eric Bibb released Friends as his debut release under Telarc International Corporation. Bibb remained with Telarc Records from 2004 until 2011, releasing several additional albums including, A Ship Called Love in 2005, Diamond Days in 2007, and Spirit I Am in 2008. He released Booker's Guitar in January 2010 with music channeled from the Delta guitar master himself, Booker White, also known as Bukka White. In November 2011, Bibb signed to Stony Plain Records. In 2018, Bibb opened for George Benson on his UK tour.
Awards
Bibb received Grammy nominations for Shakin' a Tailfeather in 1997 and Migration Blues in 2017. He has been nominated for several Blues Music Awards. He won the award for Acoustic Artist of the Year in 2012 and 2013. In 2017 he won the award for Acoustic Album of the Year for The Happiest Man in the World.
