Legendary Rock Icon and Singer/Songwrtier Alan Gerber
Long before "supergroup" became a music industry buzzword, Elektra Records assembled one of the format's earliest and most electrifying experiments: Rhinoceros, a late-1960s heavy-soul/rock outfit whose blend of muscle and melody made them favourites among musicians and critics who understood exactly what they were witnessing. Decades later, Rhinoceros remains one of rock's great under-the-radar treasures, a band cherished by those who found them and overdue for discovery by those who have not.
Founding member Alan Gerber, the pianist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter whose fingerprints have been on soul and blues music for half a century, is giving a new generation every reason to go looking, with the arrival of his new single "Over Again," the latest offering from his new album 'The Well.'
Born in Chicago, Gerber has spent a lifetime moving fluidly between piano, acoustic and electric slide guitar, fiddle, and button accordion, building a body of work that draws from blues, soul, and folk in equal measure. He has shared stages with Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, John Lee Hooker, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, a lineup that speaks to the era he helped define and the respect he continues to command from his peers. Steven Van Zandt once singled out Gerber's "Four Riders" as the Coolest Song in the World on Little Steven's Underground Garage, a nod that captures what longtime listeners already know: Gerber writes songs built to last.
"Over Again" carries a particularly personal history. Gerber wrote the music and the song's closing lines, "To be here now with you I'd go through it all again, I'd do it all over again," then handed the song to his longtime writing partner Rolf Kempf, who returned it finished the following day. Kempf's opening line, "I can smell the suntan lotion, isn't the ocean an amazing green," gave the song its vivid, sun warmed entry point, one Gerber admits took him a moment to embrace before falling for it completely. The song's central theme, that love worth keeping is love worth working for, gives the track its emotional pull, framing devotion not as something simple but as something earned again and again.
Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0xNQFI5CdFNx1cSbpi2J7O?si=HALOiFwqSYWoE-srPg-uqA&nd=1&dlsi=8a992b01da734227
The recording itself carries its own story. Gerber's son Eli, a co-producer on the album and one of his favourite guitarists, was juggling his day job as a physicist when he sent over a quick demo of his guitar ideas for the track. Gerber liked what he heard so much that the demo became the final recording, prompting him to declare, "this ain't no demo." It's a detail that speaks to the loose, instinctive spirit running through 'The Well,' an album where first takes and family collaboration carried real creative weight.
That sense of family runs through the entire record. 'The Well' marks Gerber's last opportunity to write with Kempf, who passed away before the album's release, and also reunites him with Danny Weis, his former Rhinoceros bandmate, whose guitar work appears across eight tracks. Quebec guitarist Gaston Gagnon of Garolou lends his touch to the songs "Mysterious," & “On A Roll” while Gerber's daughter, Hannah, contributes vocals throughout the record. Gerber's wife Robin, a ceramic artist, even created the bowl photographed for the album cover, making 'The Well' a project built as much from lifelong friendships as from blood relations.
Gerber continues to tour extensively as both a solo artist and with a full band, bringing decades of stage experience to every performance. As Terry Whalen, Artistic Director of Whalen's Barn Concert Series in Miramichi, New Brunswick, put it, within the first thirty seconds of a live Alan Gerber show, audiences are hooked completely. With "Over Again" now available and 'The Well' both out now, listeners have a fresh entry point into an artist whose catalogue rewards discovery, and whose next chapter is only getting started.
Performance Date:
Aug 5 — Val-David, QC — 1001 Pots
