Macalester Archives · Steve Tibbetts

Hellbound Train: An Anthology

“Tibbetts has been an ECM artist [since 1982], pursuing a movable crossroads of modal psychedelia, dreamscape electronics and ceremonial rhythms across the eight albums anthologised in this set. If you are new to Tibbetts, Hellbound Train is an exciting introduction – with an epic journey on the other side of the door.” -David Fricke, MOJO

Things I Did (Press resources for “Life Of.”)

Press page with rough bio is here Things I Did 2009-16 1. Sent Messages With Foxes 2013 2. Curated a Playlist for ECM 2017 3. Had Brain Scanned for Science 2012 4. Gave a Transplant …

Life Of–Bio & Press Page

I like the physicality of playing 12-string. I don’t use a pick. If I’m drifting off to sleep at night and feel my fingertips throbbing I know I had a good day.

Life Of

“The effect is a seductive impressionism of fluid melodic figures and rippling arpeggios with a quietly firm, emotional undertow.” -Rolling Stone

Life Of–Press page

Some Biographical Material Big Influences Dave Ray was a big influence, not so much because of his legendary guitar chops or his storied career in music, but because he kept the rent on my studio low. Dave Ray was my landlord. He died in 2002. A street close to my studio has been renamed Dave…

MyECM

I curated a playlist for ECM as part of their venture into the world of streaming (an article from Pitchfork is here). My annotations for the playlist are below, and a more concise version is on ECM’s website here. The playlist is now up at Tidal and Spotify. Steve’s ECM playlist I curated selections from (mostly)…

The Fall of Us All–Atlantic Monthly

“Tibbetts’s guitar-from-beyond-the-solar-system will take you to realms hitherto glimpsed only by the Hubble space telescope and will offer several plausible explanations of dark matter.”

Natural Causes–Downbeat Review

“To call Natural Causes exotic would be to deny the labor of love that went into making it. You might say Steve Tibbetts has, in a sense, redefined the word ‘natural’ for all to hear.”

A Man About A Horse–ECM bio pt. 1

Every piece in this new album is rich in color and landscape. There’s a plot, intention and meaning. Do I want anybody to know the specifics of plot, intention, and meaning? Definitely not.

First Album–Cuneiform Bio

By late summer of 1976 I had enough music for an album but little chance of getting a label to put it out. I did have something I could use for a cover from my work as an art major and a little money saved from my night shift job at Minnesota Public Radio, so I found a pressing plant in Arizona that would manufacture 200 albums for $600 and I sent them my stuff.