Dave Gibson

Dave Gibson and his band Hackinbush delighted Chicago audiences throughout the 1970s, primarily as the house band for Nashville North and Spanky’s in Willow Springs, two of Chicago’s premiere country and western nightclubs. Band members over the years included Kirby Bivans, Rick Shryock, Chris Miller, Willie Wainwright, Dean Milano and Tom Bethke. The author joined  the band for one year and was impressed by Gibson’s songwriting abilities. Dave eventually moved onto Nashville, Tennessee in the 1980s where he formed the Gibson Miller Band and then went on to pen quite a few major hits for some of the Nashville superstars, among them Alabama, Tanya Tucker, Confederate Railroad, Joe Diffie, Reba McEntire and others.