Otis Gibbs is a songwriter, storyteller, painter, photographer, and planter of 7,176 trees. He once wrestled a bear and lost. He’s been called “the best unknown songwriter in music today,” but if you ask him, he’ll just say he’s a folksinger.

The Trust Of Crows, his tenth studio album, was recorded at the iconic Columbia Studio A in Nashville, where Bob Dylan made Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. It’s been closed to the public for decades, but Otis was given permission to record there.

Gibbs’ storytelling extends beyond music to his YouTube channel, where more than 100,000 subscribers listen to tales and folklore passed down by legendary musicians. In an effort to preserve these personal stories before they’re lost to history, he single handedly built a living archive in the spirit of The Lomax Family, Studs Terkel or even Charles Kuralt. This deeply personal project reflects Otis’ reverence for history, lived experience, and the characters who shaped American roots music from the ground up.

Otis embraced a DIY ethic early on, sometimes by choice and sometimes out of necessity. Whether it’s starting his own record label, podcast, YouTube channel, or whatever else needed to be done, he’s created his own ecosystem in the arts—all while wearing the same work shirt and old felt hat that he wore planting trees 25 years ago. He continues to shine a light on the forgotten people, places, and the unvarnished beauty of everyday life.

Otis and his partner, Amy Lashley have spent the last 20 years in their tiny home on top of a hill in East Nashville surrounded by artists, weirdos, radicals and as many animals as possible.