Rapid River Interview

Interview with newcomer Benjammin’

By James Cassara

Originally published in Rapid River, Western North Carolina’s Eclectic Arts and Literature Monthly, Sept. 2002. © 2002 Rapid River; reproduced by permission.

     It is a privilege this month to showcase a relative newcomer to our area, a local performer who is rapidly gaining the attention of area listeners. With his lusty vocals and intricate guitar work, the affable gent known best as Benjammin’ has quickly made his presence known in the already rich local music scene. Having relocated to our area barely more than a year ago, Benjammin’, whose physical and spiritual persona seem the antithesis of the dreadlock crowd, has been playing the usual coffee shop and acoustic stage haunts while exploring the musical pulse of his new community and inner self.

     Benjammin’s eight song EP, a stripped down affair of guitar, voice, and audience, is a deliberately curious mix of intentional hilarity and profound introspection.  Not many artists would attempt to contradict the intentionally unpolished sentiment of “So Good For So Long” with the ecological reverence of “Billions Of Angels”, and fewer still could pull it off. Four live songs matched against a foursome of studio numbers, united both in intensity and artistic approach.

     Having just played his first Bele Chere, an experience he described as “My best show ever,” the artist is understandably eager to step out a bit. My thanks for his taking the time to chat and catch our readers up on his latest exploits.

     Rapid River: The CD 72.2 % Live! is an obvious reference to your disc's four live numbers (recorded at Beanstreets Coffee House downtown) along with the homegrown studio tracks. This seems a pretty good way of introducing yourself to the Asheville scene without having to invest in the time and expense of a full-blown album. How did the disc come about?

     Benjammin’: 72.2% Live started as a demo for venues. Many bookers like to hear what you're actually going to sound like in their venue, and nothing communicates that as well as live tracks. Of course, the fidelity of live tracks isn't as good, so I also included a couple of high-quality studio tracks. I recently added two bonus studio tracks to 72.2% Live – including “Shining From Inside”, the song that placed first in last year's OSCA Songwriting Contest -- so there are now eight tracks on it. I also sell 72.2% Live at my gigs, but at a lower price than a regular studio CD.

     I actually do have a studio album, but it's from my prior musical incarnation as an electronic musician. The Beauty Within is very peaceful synthesizer music optimized for meditation, yoga, massage or just plain relaxing. It's also great for calming down hyperactive children and high-strung pets. The CD has no guitar or vocals, and is nothing like what I do now, but I still sell it and get very positive feedback on it.

     RR: Are the plans in the works for a more formal effort?

     Benjammin’: Absolutely. I'm now recording my first fully produced contemporary folk CD, tentatively titled So Good For So Long. I plan to release it by year's end. Like my live shows, the CD will have a good mix of moods: heartfelt ballads, funny songs, some love songs, upbeat numbers, and even a couple of guitar instrumentals. There will be several songs with spiritual themes – a universal, all-embracing spirituality – such as “Billions of Angels”, “Visitation” and “We're All One”. My quirky humor will definitely be on display in songs like “Someone Else's Dream, “The Devil's Dog” and “So Good For So Long”. There will also be more mainstream songs, like “Shining From Inside”, “Into Your Light” and “Realize Your Dreams”, which should appeal to a broad audience.

     I'm actually glad I didn't record my first vocal CD until now. I've been attending lots of song schools for the last few years – including the Swannanoa Gathering Contemporary Folk Week, the Planet Bluegrass Song School up in Colorado, and the Kerrville Folk Festival Song School in Texas – and have been conscientiously putting what I've learned into practice. There can be a danger of thinking you're better than you really are, but I've been getting especially positive feedback from audiences, songwriting teachers and critique groups for the last year or so. This makes me feel confident that the songs on So Good For So Long won’t embarrass me when I listen to the CD five years from now! Had I recorded this a year ago, half the album would have been songs I'm no longer proud of, and which I've already cut from my live set. I'm also singing much better now than I was even a year ago, thanks in part to the singing and performance classes I took at the Swannanoa and Planet Bluegrass schools.

     RR: Talk about your move to Asheville. You've quickly ingratiated yourself with the area, particularly the Greater Asheville Song Makers (GASM). How would you describe the local musical scene? I often hear from musicians how supportive and well organized it is.

     Benjammin’: Before last October, I had lived my entire life in the Oklahoma City area. Both my significant other and I were ready to relocate: I had decided to leave my corporate sales job to pursue my dream of being a full-time singer/songwriter, and both her sons had moved out. We wanted mountains, an open-minded community and a reasonable cost of living, and I wanted a supportive acoustic music and arts scene and reasonable access to the Northeast for touring. Asheville had everything we were looking for.

     I joined GASM as soon as we moved to Asheville, and they immediately embraced me. They really help me better critique my own songs and are themselves very talented singer/songwriters. If that weren't enough they even let me play in their monthly showcase at Karmasonics and helped me quickly plug into the whole local music scene.

     Even the non-GASM musicians I've met in Asheville – people like Chris Rosser, Joe Ebel, David LaMotte, Steve Weams, Michael Farr and Josh Lamkin – have been unstintingly helpful. With such talented and helpful musicians, and the wealth of acoustic venues in the area, I can’t imagine a better place for an acoustic singer/songwriter to be right now than Asheville!

     RR: Your background is in classical guitar, but you incorporate all manner of World Music, contemporary folk, and blues. What draws you to bring these styles together? Many musicians are content to settle on a particular idiom continually explore it.

     Benjammin’: Most of my favorite musicians are genre-blenders. I also love lots of single-category music, but what really gets my juices flowing are innovators like John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny Group, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Frank Zappa and Michael Hedges. I love it when musicians like Chris Rosser and Tom Prasado-Rao blend an eastern vibe into their music, or Billy Jonas incorporates African rhythms and found-objects percussion into his songs. I think cultural blending is an essential step toward a more harmonious world, and music is one of the easiest places to accomplish it. Plus, I really do it naturally – maybe because I'm an Aquarius, a sign known for being innovative and eclectic, or maybe because I listen to so many different styles of music.