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NORTH SALT LAKE — In the quest of creating wholesome pop music that the whole family can listen to, local musician Guy Richey Gibbons recently released an album in hopes that the messages in his songs can be a positive influence, especially for kids.
Gibbons describes music as being in his bloodstream, as he grew up the son of the owner of Platinum Sound and Mastering Labs, the oldest and longest-running commercial recording facility in the state of Utah.
"From a young age, I've been blessed with the opportunity to hear (the language of music) spoken and … I've had the opportunity to kind of speak back, if you will," Gibbons said.
He began taking piano lessons at age 9 and absolutely detested the instrument. He was thrilled when his piano teacher had to move away six months into his lessons, but about a year later he changed his tune after hearing his brother's friend play "Underground" by Ben Folds Five.
"There was something cosmic that happened and … my soul changed," Gibbons recalled. "And it was like a turning point for me in my life where watching him play that thing on the piano — I begged him that night to teach me this piano thing, and within a day or two I had memorized it and was playing it fluently."
During the next few years, Gibbons played the piano for five hours a day. He couldn't read music but was able to play by ear. When he was 12 years old, he and his dad co-wrote a song called "I Believe" that was featured on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 2003 Especially for Youth album.
Because of his young age at the time, his voice isn't the one featured on the album. Instead, a man named Brett Raymond was hired to perform the vocals. Ten years after the song was recorded, Gibbons found himself on Raymond's doorstep, asking for his daughter's hand in marriage.
I'm making this record — to offer a pop/rock alternative to people of all ages, everywhere. Songs about love but not sex — pop without profanity — music about life, real love, and well, truth.
–Guy Richey Gibbons, Utah musician
Guy and Kelsey Gibbons share a passion for music, but they felt guided away from pursuing it as a full-time career when they were first married. Instead, Guy Gibbons started a marketing company. In hindsight, he can see that he wouldn't have had the same purpose behind his recent album if he had started it a decade ago, before his five children came into his life. Now, his purpose — making music families can listen to together — is inspired by finding entertainment he feels comfortable bringing into his own home.
"I don't think my 3-year-old needs to be exposed to top 10 pop songs that are about kind of gratuitous sex .... but I do want them to have love songs in their minds, I want them to be singing love songs all the time, and I want them to be singing songs about life and struggle and going through hard things, but overcoming through hard work," Gibbons said.
About 6 months ago, he began taking time off from his job regularly to work on his album, which is called, "In This Moment." The album features nine original songs and one cover song. Gibbons wrote eight of the songs himself and co-wrote one with his father-in-law.
Gibbons said the songs he wrote come from his heart and are about life, love, truth and things that matter to him.
"I'm just excited to share this with people," he said. "I really hope that a lot of families out there will resonate with the fun messages that are in these songs."
Of his mission as an artist, Gibbons wrote, "If you search the top 10 pop songs of today, you'll find the majority of them are offensive in some way. Vulgarity, disrespect/violence, immorality, drugs, etc. ... This isn't a small thing. Young people today are fed full helpings of this stuff and that kind of diet produces some pretty cancerous problems. That's why I'm making this record — to offer a pop/rock alternative to people of all ages, everywhere. Songs about love but not sex — pop without profanity — music about life, real love, and well, truth."
Gibbons shared a few of the specific messages he relates in his album, including from the title track, "In This Moment," which he says is about learning to stay in the moment instead of just trying to get through the difficult moments in life. He wants his listeners to learn the beauty of enjoying the gift of the present.
There are a few songs on the album related to mental health, including one called, "I'll Be the One," which refers to people being there for their loved ones no matter what happens in their life.
"I think there's a lot of significance to that message with this mental health epidemic that we are seeing all over the world today," Gibbons said. "How many young people need to hear that and feel that and know that there are people that no matter what, we're here for you, we want you, we love you, we want you to stick around. And we will be the one to fight for your life even if you're feeling that it's not worth anything, it's not valuable. It is to us, it is to me. And that's where that song came from."
Gibbons' album is available on bandcamp and can be streamed on any platform. To follow Gibbons' music, visit his YouTube and Instagram.
