Album – SKI SONGS
Ski Songs
By the late ’50s Bob was living in Aspen and doing a lot of skiing. He joined forces with writers from the Denver Post, Shirley Sealy, Gail Pitts and Blanche Hardin, to write a musical about skiing. Although the show was never produced, the songs were recorded with great session players including bassist Russell Savakas, guitarist, Joe Puma, and Eric Weissberg. The album is an enduring favorite for generations of snow people and folk fans.
Elektra Records 1959
Players:
Joe Puma, guitar
Russ Savakus, bass
Eric Weissberg, banjo, bass, guitar
Bob Gibson, one of the better folk singers around today, has an amusing album here, dealing with the popular winter sports of skiing. The songs concern the delights, the romance and the fun of skiing— as well as the pain- with many of the tunes set to familiar melodies, and all sung eloquently by Gibson. There is the saga of “Super Skier,” “In This White World” and “My Highlands Lassie.” The singer himself wrote the words to the tunes, and they make good listening. For both folk and ski buffs.
NEWS, REVIEWS & NOTES
This 1959 album has the hallmarks of a cash-in: a famous folk singer, a comical cover, and a seemingly lightweight theme. And while the subjects may seem trivial in comparison to those of Gibson’s better-known originals, neither the songs nor performances were tossed off lightly… Gibson was living in Aspen, and turned his love of skiing into an album of song. The result is a surprisingly clever, joyous and fulfilling album…
There may be, somewhere on this improbable planet, sports enthusiasts who are more fanatical than skiers. But few addicts to other sporting vices are deliberately willing to risk life, limb, body and soul to satisfy their caprices. All for the thrill of barreling downhill at 70 miles an hour, balanced precariously on a pair of wooden slats fixed firmly (it is hoped) to the feet.
And so to YOU–intrepid, impetuous, damnfool skier– this album is dedicated….