Features : Long Way Down starts Sarah Gibson on a journey headed a long way up

It’s been 20-plus years since Sarah Gibson, on her way to pre-school in daddy’s car, was rocking to Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.”

“Daddy, play the song that sounds like a roller coaster.”

Since then, she has learned to play a variety of musical instruments and acquired several hundred thousand Instagram and YouTube fans.

Now, with the skills, the writing chops, the talent and the voice to go a long way, she rocks her own music at the start of a career as a performing and recording artist.

And her debut, “Long Way Down,” should take her a long way up. It is rocking good fun, a strong woman finding herself and telling an ex-lover in no uncertain terms why he is an ex.

“Basically, I’m telling him he’s from hell, and where I am is heaven on earth because it’s a place without him. Moving on, moving on. Burn that bridge, baby. You know?”

It’s been a long way down
But I’m running fast
Ain't no way in hell am I going back
You can try to take the light away from my eyes
But I'm burning up brighter than any fire

The track features driving guitar work from her boyfriend, Derek Thomas, and her father, Carl. Sarah’s strong contralto voice can stand up to the guitars, and when the lyrics are ramming home the point, her voice has a growl in it.

Moving on, moving on, in music as in love. “Long Way Down,” she says, is just the start, “scratching the surface as to what I’m capable of.”

Her career started in that car on the way to pre-school. After that, she started learning instruments. At 15, she began with Instagram, making 15- to 30-second videos.

“I was just starting to learn the bass. These were all my dad's instruments, and I had no idea of music theory, but I have a pretty good ear. I started posting snippets of original music. I got a following. It kind of took off from there, and I continued to post music.”

Her skills and talent, her voice, her musical persona were developed during those years on Instagram, making and posting videos of her learning instruments — guitar, harp, cello, piano, sax, a dozen so far.

“It became a thing where they were like, ‘Okay, what instrument are you going to play next?’”

For a while, she was branded, promoting various makes of guitar, and, at 16, she was offered record deals. But she decided to be independent, both on Instagram and in her music.

“I did not want to sell out. I did not want to be groomed into this pop kind of thing,” she said.

“Even then I had icons that I looked up to, like Joss Stone, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, the classic female singers, and that was not what was asked of me, so I chose to home in on my artistry and work independently.”

She learned, during those years, that she wants to be a musician with a musician’s career.

“I’ve realized that most of my time was allocated toward making music online for videos rather than writing and making music I can promote.”

She understands the process now and is fully involved with it.

“You write the music, you record it, you make the music video, you promote it. The hardest part was just starting to release music, and I’m just so happy that I have finally released something because now I have the bug, and there’s no going back at this point.”

“But now,” she added, “I have a lot bigger plans than just releasing songs.”

She loves performing, evident in the video for “Long Way Down.” Her dream is symphony halls, playing her songs with full orchestras behind them.

“And I’m in a nice gown, singing and playing piano, and there’s this whole string section in the back.”

Next is a song she and her father are working on. It will be “a neo-soul kind of thing, like Aretha Franklin.”

She is working on an album with plans to release singles until it’s ready. The songs will span a multitude of genres, jazz, metal, blues among them.

“I’m going to consistently release, but it’s not everything. You have to be able to perform these songs. You have to recreate them live, and I can.”

The Instagram career prepared her, helped her to the understanding of what she wants to be. It came down to a choice, she said.

“Do you want to be a content creator, or do you want to be a musician? After all these years, I realized that most of my time was allocated toward making music online for videos rather than writing and making music I can promote and perform live. Now, I feel like I finally got into the game.”

Get into the game with her. Connect to Sarah Gibson on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts, and follow her up.

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