National Post (National Edition)
Jordan Gibbons putting on hits, too
DAUGHTER OF JAYS’ SKIPPER TO PLAY ROGERS CENTRE WITH HER COUNTRY BAND
Afew weeks ago, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was sitting in the dugout when someone mentioned that his daughter’s band — Southtown — will be playing at the Rogers Centre on Sunday, May 28.
“Yeah, I’ll probably fly up there to watch,” said Gibbons, with a sly smile.
Nobody got the joke, or even knew it was a joke, at first. Finally it set in, the gag being that by the time Jordan Gibbons and Southtown play the Rogers Centre, Gibbons would be long fired, but he would fly up on Air Canada’s new direct flight from his hometown of San Antonio for the gig.
“That’s my dad,” said Jordan over the phone from San Antonio. “He always says stuff like that. I’m like, ‘Dad, you can’t get fired before we play. At least make it past May 28.”
Like her dad, Jordan Gibbons laughs a lot and has an easygoing way, though it’s clear she is dead serious about her music and her four-piece alternative country band Southtown, which is making a name for itself in the San Antonio area performing original songs written by Jordan and playing cover songs by artists including Hank Williams Jr., The Dixie Chicks, Tracy Chapman, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac, etc.
And even some Canadian material, like Alanis Morissette. One of Shannon’s original songs, Blue, was selected as a semifinalist in the 2016 International Songwriting Competition out of more than 16,000 submissions from all over the world. The song demonstrates Gibbons’ range as a singer, song writer and lyricist and the proficiency of the band: Dana Smith on lead guitar, vocals and percussion; Gabriel Acevedo on drums and percussion and Colton Daniels playing bass and banjo. Blue is haunting and melancholy, and just a great song.
“I wrote that about a friend of mine that I grew up with,” said Gibbons. “She suffered from postpartum depression and kind of got into a rut and we were really close when we were younger but kind of drifted apart as we grew up. About year and a half ago, she took her own life. After I found out, I kind of just sat down with my guitar and that’s where it comes from. Whatever I’m experiencing I feel like I pick up my guitar. And so that song kind of came out of it and that’s my way of processing that.”
Southtown has been together for about a year and a half and are paying their dues, as all bands do, playing in clubs and bars like The Gnarly Gar, Uncle Gary’s and the Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort. On May 28, Southtown will play in front of more than 40,000 people at the Rogers Centre. Needless to say, Gibbons and her band mates are stoked, nervous and excited.
“As it’s getting closer, I’m getting more nervous, thinking about how it’s going to go and of course you worry about the sound — how it’s going to be different. Is there going to be an echo going on that I’m going to have to adjust to? Just little things like that,” said Gibbons. “And that big audience. But we play gigs 3-4-5 times a week and I feel like we’re pretty solid and have a balance and hopefully we’ll just get up there and enjoy.”
Gibbons laughs when asked how they got the gig. Of course, everyone knows. Hey, when you’re starting out as a band, you take any leg-up you can get. Gibbons was in Toronto for last year’s Country Day, watching the bands play and thought, why not see if she can get her band on the bill.
“I asked my dad, ‘Hey, do you have any contacts I can reach out to? Maybe we could play outside the stadium.’ I think they had some bands playing outside the stadium (last year) as fans were walking in. So, yeah, we had a nice little connection there, a nice little hookup,” she said with a laugh.
But now it’s up the band to step up and perform, though it’s not exactly a musical crowd per se. Still, Gibbons is psyched. For her, it’s a homecoming as well as the biggest gig Southtown’s ever played. Gibbons spent most of her summers growing up in Toronto after her dad got his first coaching gig in Toronto in 2002.
“This is where we (she and her younger brothers Troy and Kyle) road our bikes at Centre Island and went to the CN Tower and all that good stuff so, yeah, it will be so cool to show my band the city because I feel Toronto’s a huge part of my memories,” said Gibbons, her Texas drawl even more pronounced than her dad’s.
Throughout the phone interview, Gibbons laughed constantly, perhaps loudest when asked where she got her musical chops. For certain, she got her love of music from her dad.
“I have some home videos of my dad. He would just always play old-school country songs around the house. He’d be singing — he wouldn’t sing very good — but he’d be singing. He’s a huge music fan and even in the off season he’ll be on the couch just watching YouTube videos of like Rolling Stones concerts. He loves watching all that stuff. So I definitely got my love of music from my dad and the love of country music and that’s what he would listen to when I was growing up,” she said.
From the time he was a teenager, John Gibbons was a big fan of a couple of Toronto bands, Rush and Triumph — “They were huge in Texas back in the day,” he said — and Jordan said a few years ago her dad took the entire family to a Rush concert in San Antonio and they had a beer with Geddy Lee afterwards. From talking to John and Jordan Gibbons, it’s plain to see that they’re a very close family. Jordan said one of the reasons she is comfortable in chasing her dream as a musician is because of the example set by her dad during his baseball journey.
“I think what’s cool about my dad is that he’s kind of a dreamer,” she said. “He got drafted out of high school (1980 first round selection by the New York Mets) and I remember my dad told me that his dad at the time had said, ‘I think you should really go to college, play there and get a degree.’ Because he had a scholarship offer to play college ball. But my dad was like, ‘No, I want to go play in the minors. I want to go take my chance.’ So what’s cool is my dad always followed his passion, he’s always followed his heart.
“I had just graduated with my teaching degree (University of Texas at San Antonio) and right around the time that I graduated is when I joined the band and I was kind of at the crossroads: Should I settle down and get a job? Or should I continue on with this band? My parents mean everything to me and my parents were encouraging me and saying, ‘This is the time to do it while you’re young, while you don’t have kids or a husband. Your teaching job will always be there, you have your degree to fall back on. Enjoy this time while you can.’
“Not every kid has the support of their parents to do that. So it’s been a huge blessing and I’m very grateful, very appreciative.”
Before hanging up, Gibbons was asked if she thinks he dad could have made it as a singer if he didn’t go the baseball route.
“Oh man, I don’t know about that, probably not,” she said, laughing some more. “He better stick to baseball.”