Album Notes

Ten years ago, Debby Gipsman picked up the guitar in her college apartment and starting learning the chords to Father and Son, by Cat Stevens. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) quickly followed, as did Both Hands (Ani DiFranco) and Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls). This girl wanted to SING, and she was tired of depending on boys playing guitar at campfires for accompaniment to her favorite songs. Debby’s original songs began pouring out, and were slowly shared with friends and loved ones. When Debby finally started studying guitar with Lisa Zeiler (Rebecca Riots), they formed a friendship in which Lisa nudged Debby to play at an open mic at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage Coffee House. She’s been performing ever since.

Over the last four years, Debby’s music has received enthusiastic reception on stage, in homes, at weddings, and sometimes funerals in the San Francisco Bay Area and along the West Coast.

Full Belly, Debby’s debut album, is a compilation of intimate stories, real and imagined, from Debby’s life and relationships. Touching, wrenching, & inspiring are all words that have been used to describe the keen honesty in her lyrics. Debby’s lyrical sultry voice delivers the songs like an intimate letter, swelling like a siren in moments and cooing like a lullaby in others. Lisa Zeiler produced and played on the album, which is wrought with acoustic guitar and weaving harmony. Alyn Kelley, of the acapella band Mary Schmary and ukulele duo Lemon Juju, sang so much harmony that she is worried she won't have any more parts to sing when she listens to the CD in her car. Loren Ludwig is also featured on viola da gamba on the album.

Debby’s big influences, from current to past, include: Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, Kris Delmhorst, Richard Schindell, Girlyman, Dar Williams, Rebecca Riots, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Nanci Griffith, and many a campfire sing along.

Debby currently performs mostly locally in the San Francisco Bay Area due to a delightful preoccupation with her unbelievably cute 1-year-old daughter. When she’s not performing, Debby works as a doula (labor support) and a tutor.