Henry gip gipson biography of william

By signing up, you agree to the our terms and our Privacy Policy agreement. From Gip. He was almost larger than life in his honesty and simplicity. Gipson was born in January 6th,in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama, making him 99 years old at the time of his passing. There is some good natured debate about his age however, as many locals claim he celebrated his 86th birthday a few times.

Gipson was a railroad man, having worked for 25 years at the Pullman Standard plant in Bessemer, Alabama. When he left his job at the plant, it was to become a grave digger. And his smile is just as embracing. In a red, white and blue nylon jacket and white fedora with its wide brim turned up on one side, Gip is nursing a crinkled can of Budweiser in a room adjacent to his tin-roofed establishment.

And I can't get them out of my head. In those years, he says he's been struck by lightning and run over in a stampede. A singer who retired from the railroad, he's a grave digger these days and owns a cemetery. Gip has always been famous for his hospitality, whether it be with the locals he's known for decades or the wide-eyed college kids just discovering some gut-bucket blues.

When he opened his place back init was little more than a glorified tent. Now, still several degrees removed from spiffy, the roadhouse has been fixed up but not so much that it's lost its down-home appeal, says guitar player Lenny Madden, who functions as the House emcee. It's like going to your best friend's house and putting on just the newest record and sitting there and enjoying it together.

Literally, there is truly a mix between the musicians and the audience. The crowds have increased in recent years as more people from outside the neighborhood have discovered Gip's. In the early s he began sharing music with the kids in his neighborhood and teaching them to play guitar. The party always begins with a prayer and, by the time it ends, you all feel like family.

Every Saturday evening, Mr. And what's equally important to Henry Gipson, adds Roger Stevenson, is that younger players are offered an opportunity here to sit in and hone their chops with the pros. But how are they going to get better if we don't get them up with the good guys and get them enthusiastic enough to do it themselves, you know, to go home and practice?

So he's very much about helping young people. There have been offers from businessmen to transform this juke joint into a comfortable seat venue complete with a nice wide bar. But then it just wouldn't be Gip's Place. Gip Gipson died earlier this week. His family says that they plan to keep Gip's Place open.

Henry gip gipson biography of william

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