Most musicians will claim to be students of the their music. Few back it up the way Billy Gibson has.

You probably recognize Gibson if you spend any time on Beale Street. He's been a regular at the Blues City Cafe on Tuesday nights for several years now. He also sits in with others.

But more than anything else, Gibson is a music student. He's dedicated to his craft, passionate in the way he studies and speaks of music. Gibson's musical education also is something of a travelogue - starting in his birthplace of Jackson, Mississippi, then taking him to the heart of the blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi, continuing his education in the home of Ole Miss, Oxford, Mississippi, and now working on graduate studies in the school for blues, Beale Street.

And Gibson is literally a student as well, studying with one of his idols and taking classes at the University of Memphis. Almost more important, though, is the education he's learned from on Beale Street.

"It was a fantastic opportunity," he says. "Being on Beale has exposed me to all this music, and it's taught me so much more. David Bowen was a huge influence. Right from the start, he taught me how to be a musician on Beale, the things you have to do. You have to be a professional, and he is the ultimate example of how to do that. He helped teach me how to be an entertainer. He showed how to work with the crowd, how to work with management of the club and how to work with a band.

"I call Beale the University of the Blues. For a young musician, all you have to do is look and listen, and you can learn so much."

Gibson, who is in his late 20s, started learning music at a young age in Jackson, Miss. He hooked up with drummer Bobby Little, and soon moved to Clarksdale, Miss., to play with Johnnie Billington.

"Bobby and Johnnie taught me how to make it in this business," Gibson says. "Johnnie taught me how to play bass and harmonica in Johnnie Billington and the Midnighters."

After working in Clarksdale and Oxford, Miss., Gibson felt it was time to matriculate to Memphis. There were two reasons, he says: one, Beale Street; and two, it was the next step up. The move to Memphis offered Gibson even more work, and more importantly, it allowed him to meet Pete Pedersen, one of the original Harmonicats.

It was through another Beale Street musician, Charlie Wood, that Gibson learned Pedersen lived in Memphis.

"I called Pete on the phone a couple of years ago, and he was just the nicest guy," Gibson says. "He told me to come on out to his house and let him hear me, and maybe he could point me in the right direction. What he's done, though, is open whole new worlds for me."

Gibson had only been playing diatonic harmonica, best described as your basic blues harp. Pedersen introduced Gibson to chromatic harmonica, which offers a much great range.

"I wanted to be exposed to different things," Gibson says. "I wanted to approach harmonica from a musician's standpoint, to bring musicianship to the instrument. Working with Pete on that has been the greatest experience. This is an incredible time in my life."

Adding to the musical palette is Gibson's studies at the University of Memphis. He is enrolled in graduate classes in jazz, specializing in harmonica. He isn't working toward a degree, but is learning more about theory, history and adding to his repertoire by learning more jazz music.

To chronicle this time, and his past as well, Gibson entered the studio. The self-titled release acts as a travelogue of Gibson's career. The first four songs feature Bobby Little; the middle two reunite Gibson with Billigton; and the record closes with Gibson working with his Beale Street brethren and Pedersen, and adding touches of jazz to his blues base.

"It took a year to get it done, basically for three reasons," Gibson says. "One, I wanted to get it right. Two, it was expensive. I didn't have that much money to invest, so I'd gig to get more money and then invest it in the record. Three, there were so many musicians I wanted to play with, it took some time to coordinate it. There were several different sessions, and each had its own flavor."

As Gibson says, this is an exciting time. The record is getting strong reviews and selling well. Gibson has set up a site on the World Wide Web for his North Magnolia Music Co. And, of course, there's still the Tuesday night gig on Beale at the Blues City Cafe.

If you ask Gibson about his long-term goals or dreams, he doesn't hesitate. He'd like to travel more, saying touring would be easier since he is younger. And he'd like to see Little get the recognition he deserves, and he'll continue to work with him. But he's hard pressed to complain.

"When people ask me what I want to do, I tell them I'm already doing it," he says. "I'm working full-time as a musician. I've already been successful. But I'm not going to sit around. I want to make it happen for me, for Bobby, for Johnnie, for David (Bowen and the King Beez). We're musicians, and we all have something to say.

"The bottom line is, this is just an amazing time for me."