Benyaro Music Sampler

BENYARO
"ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOUR PAST"
Produced by Danny Kadar and Ben Musser

Ben Musser - lead & harmony vocals, steel, nylon, 12-string, slide guitar, 
upright & toy piano, tambourine, shaker, snare brushes, drum kit , cowbell, hand drum, bongos, beatbox, claps, charango

Leif Routman - upright bass, harmony vocals

Brian Geltner - drum kit, castanets, hand drum, shaker, 
harmony vocals

w/ Jacob Rodriguez – tenor and baritone sax
Meg Chamberlin – background vocals
Camille Obering – background vocals
Mazie Chamberlin – background vocals
~

All songs written by Ben Musser
except “Penchant for the Blue” 
by Scott Claassen & Ben Musser
“New Moon” horn arrangement by 
Ben Musser & Jacob Rodriguez
~

Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC
and Mohinga Music Recording, Jackson Hole, WY

Produced by: Ben Musser & Danny Kadar
Mixed by: Danny Kadar
Engineered by: Danny Kadar, Clay Miller & Ben Musser
Mastered by: Jeff Lipton for Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Asst Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice

Photography © Linton Productions
Graphic Design by: Jesse & Karen @ PorterOneDesign.com
Art Design by: Camille Obering & Ben Musser

BENYARO - One Step Ahead of Your Past

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
Words and music by Ben Musser
(c) Mohinga Music
All rights reserved.

The Way

The Way (Reprise)

master v1
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

words and music by Ben Musser
produced by Scott Mathews and Ben Musser
performed by Ben Musser
(c) Mohinga Music
All Rights Reserved

Falling By The Wayside

TOO MANY MEN 

Wreckless
There are certain people ridin my mind
and the troubles they cause and they find
while pinning down their neighbour
acting like fools
acting like men

Sexist
label me and call me a clown
check the problems bringing us down in the world
try to drawn a straight line to any girl,
or woman, good luck,
there’re too many men

War, and greed, cliches
but always been strong
And the boys have led the chorus in song
Nobody seems to ask 
When will we move on from too many men

Too many men

These days
We’re shown more and more of what’s tragic
but for centuries shared problems we’ve had
and they continue thanks to these egos
shaved, bearded, dirty
too many men

Come close lovely ladies
You gotta help us find our way
from testosterone to humble days 
one after another
we silently yearn for
for too many years
there’re too many men

Too many men etc.
------------

Words and music by Ben Musser  (c) Mohinga Music 2014

Ben Musser - lead and harmony vocals, piano, toy piano, guitars, sampling, percussion
Leif Routman - upright bass, harmony vocals
Brian Geltner - drums, harmony vocals
Camille Obering - harmony vocals
Hilary Camino - harmony vocals

Produced by Ben Musser and Danny Kadar
Engineered and mixed by Danny Kadar
Asst. Engineer - Clay Miller
Recorded at Echo Mountain Studios, Asheville, NC and Mohinga Music Studios, Jackson Hole, WY

Too Many Men

A cover of the late greats, David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Their rendition of the Christmas standard from "Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas" CBS special of 1977 is timeless. We hope you enjoy our take and we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!

Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth
(written by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, Alan Kohan / Harry Simeone, K.K. David, Henry Onorati)
Performed by Benyaro
Engineered by Ben Musser
Mixed by Tony Shimkin for Noble Media
Mastered by Chris Gehringer

Nylon string guitar, 12 string guitar, upright bass, drums, toy piano, snare, and vocals by Ben Musser

Photo and design by Ben Musser
Featuring the original art of Aaron Wallis

Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth

Ben Musser: lead & harmony vocals,
steel string guitars, drum kit, bongos, 
tambourines, whispers
Leif Routman: upright bass, whispers

Nice ‘n’ Steady 
(Ben Musser)

Sometimes in life
one must put their smile down
let fire fill the eyes
when your dignity’s challenged
Oh I, got a story for you

Today the sun came up
Caught the stench of an evil woman
whose been trying to take my place
trying to give it to my lover
when the lights go down
‘cause she shackled to her Lynchburg taste
she needs more than what she’s got 
more than her cheap perfume
that insecure laugh stinks up the room
I told you once, told you twice
So now it shouldn’t be a surprise
When I give it to you 

Nice ‘n’ steady

Oh what I got to give to you
ain’t nothing you can use
when you slither into bed each night
as you close your eyes
not alone, so you fantasize
the moment you turn out the light

What you got comin’ more like the back of my hand
You’re the only female I’m wanna … like a man
I told you once, told you twice,
So now it shouldn’t be a surprise
When I give it to you 

Nice ‘n’ steady 

I’m gonna give it to you steady
but not so nice
next time you think of sucking
you’d better think twice 
about your reputation
and a parasite

Only one 
gets to be with my girl
Fortunate for me I get to rock that world
But you, better back the front down

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Nice n' Steady

"Time's Not On Your Side"
Words & music by: Ben Musser
© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Produced by: Ben Musser & Danny Kadar
Mixed by: Danny Kadar
Engineered by: Danny Kadar, Clay Miller & Ben Musser
Mastered by: Jeff Lipton for Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Asst Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice
Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC
and Mohinga Music Recording, Jackson Hole, WY

Ben Musser: lead & harmony vocals, upright piano, 
steel string guitars, shaker, tambourine, hand drum
Leif Routman: upright bass, harmony vocals
Brian Geltner: drum kit
Meg Chamberlin: background vocals
Camille Obering: background vocals
Mazie Chamberlin: background vocals

Time’s Not On Your Side

The blue of your eyes is 
brighter than the sky, money
The few things you’ve seen 
still blow your mind
As you experience things
that make you feel better
make sure they’re recurring 
not just on your mind

Listen to me my son
Time’s not on your side
Someone may come along 
and kill you just for pride
Though nimble moves may help 
you keep that runnin time
it ain’t so cheap, but time, rolls on

Be careful of the man in the hat 
with the fire on his back
Looking for somebody to burn
Excuse me did somebody steal your sleeves, my friend?
Son, you’re gonna have to stand up tall 
for the right things
make sure they’re recurring
not just on your mind

Listen to me my son
time’s not on your side
someone may come along 
and kill you just for pride
Your family’s devastation 
will last through many years 
of therapy
but that’s just life, and life rolls on

But now we are alive
and thank God for your smile

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Time's Not On Your Side - (EU/UK SINGLE)

BREADWINNER
(words & music by Ben Musser)

You are no breadwinner
You will not wear a crown
Someday someone is going to own you
make you put your ego down
Maybe you’ll find it’s a woman
who laps you each other turn
or maybe it’s just a man who knows better
requires you to deal with the burn

So you’re a man, who wears it on his sleeve
trust me to believe, the scene unfolds
the room swallows it down
Maybe it’s just me and my sensitive way
like my mother feels the pain 
so far away from where you think you stand

Bend down to me
and you will start to see how bright
the road ahead can gleam
bleak are the chapters
facing your ass as you walk straight by
one step ahead of your past

Go on out and kill your dinner
and feed from food till your right
But either way don’t you go and grow hungry
cause your pride can’t feed your belly 
and your head each night
Plagued by lack of ambition
and words that come from the bed
You sell yourself short to the lowball offer
then go home and play pretend

So you’re a man, who wears it on his sleeve
trust me to believe, the scene unfolds
the room swallows it down
Maybe it’s just me and my sensitive way
like my mother feels the pain so far away
from where you think you stand

Bend down to me
you might start to see how bright
the road ahead can gleam
Bleak are the chapters
facing your ass as you walk straight by
one step ahead of your past
two steps ahead of your past

It’s clear you long for what i’ve got 
like the stubborn seed glares at the dirt all night
Just get in the garden
Leave unpardoned heartaches behind

Bend down to me
you will start to see how bright
the road ahead can gleam
there’s dirt on the windows
facing your ass as you walk straight by
one step ahead of your past
two steps ahead of your past

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Produced by: Ben Musser & Danny Kadar
Mixed by: Danny Kadar

Ben Musser: lead & harmony vocals, cowbell,
steel string guitars, shaker, brushes, feedback
Leif Routman: upright bass
Brian Geltner: drum kit

Breadwinner

"That's the Way Things Seem to Go"
Words & music by: Ben Musser
© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Produced by: Ben Musser & Danny Kadar
Mixed by: Danny Kadar
Engineered by: Danny Kadar, Clay Miller & Ben Musser
Mastered by: Jeff Lipton for Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Asst Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice
Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC
and Mohinga Music Recording, Jackson Hole, WY

Ben Musser: lead & harmony vocals, 
nylon & steel string guitars, tambourine
Leif Routman: upright bass
Brian Geltner: drum kit
Meg Chamberlin: harmony vocals
Camille Obering: harmony vocals

THAT'S THE WAY THINGS SEEM TO GO

Slidin’ round from town to town
searching for the roads
That will deliver me from the doorstep of this house
Back to where I belong
But along the way are flats, falls, slips and cracks
Some friends who really knew you pass on
So when we spend time out in the cold
Keep yourself steady standing up for your own
Hear yourself breathe

That’s the way things seem to go
Every other day, you just don’t know
It comes around the corner at the speed of sound
you’re flat on your back
you’ve lost your crown
That’s the way things seem to go

You’ve climbed beyond 30, gained your view
and changed a lot of clothes
But stayed true to how you must spend your time
to the gallery been exposed
They’ll tell you hard work at what you should
will equal double in your mind what you could
So when those folks blow that insecure cold
keep yourself steady knowing right serves the bold
Feel yourself breathe

That’s the way things seem to go
Every other day you just don’t know
It comes around the corner at the speed of sound
You’re flat on your back
you’ve lost your crown
That’s the way things seem to go

Thanks to free will, you plot your next move
Stand yourself up the seat’s reserved for the fools 
(don’t be a fool)
Staring at your feet
(don’t be a fool)
Though the wrong ones put you down
there’re some good people you need to meet
You gotta keep things close together
Like a driver go on and get in your car
A rockstar’s who you are!

Don’t need no one’s permission
To head your own club
Don’t wait for no one’s blessing 
to chase the things you love

That’s the way things seem to go
Back when there’s a time when you just didn’t know
Now you come around the corner like the speed of sound
Kindly attack, spread your good all around
That’s the way things seem to go

Wake up, pick up what’s left
Will yourself to roll
Back to the grand coliseum that is life
to fight to save your soul

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

That's the Way Things Seem to Go

Ben Musser: lead vocals, upright piano, 
steel string guitar, slide guitar, tambourine
Leif Routman: upright bass
Brian Geltner: drum kit

I Do
(Ben Musser)

When you’re alone do you plan to do drugs? I do
When you get high, does your heart ever race with fear
Nobody’s near

When you go home back to where it all began
do the losses add up
When your shown love does your hair stand up
you give yourself raw
At the bottom of the glass, does your tongue outlast your brain
turns you blue

When you’re in your walls do the knives shine bright
longing for flesh
Because you feel the guilt, for the thanks you cannot repay
Anything, everything 
Only to later have the audacity to flirt with the mirror 
I’m not proud, but I do

So confiding in my instruments
The harmonic bubble bounces back
The din of the day
Lacking sounds this sea of music
My walking dead’s no disguise
like folks suffocating their passions
you can see it in their eyes

When you’re alone do you plan to do drugs? I do

When you lay down at night do you dream tears for your father
yearning for more
When you wake up do you kill all your time on us? Cuz I do, I do
When you drive away, can you feel all the weight come down
Cuz I do 

So confiding in my instruments
The major safe bubble bounces back
The din of the day
Lacking sounds this sea of music
my walking dead’s no disguise
Like folks suffocating their passions     
you can see it in their eyes.

Look in their eyes do you plan to do drugs? I do, I do
When you get high, does the world get dark and real,
wondering who’s next

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

v2

I Do

Ben Musser: lead & harmony vocals, 
upright piano, nylon string guitars, 
drum kit, beatbox, toy piano, claps
Leif Routman: upright bass, harmony vocals
Brian Geltner: drum kit

Is It Worth It
(Ben Musser)

Is it worth it
to say what they say you can’t say
Is it worth
to sing what they say you can’t sing

We all like to reminisce 
about the time we used 
to not have to pay a price
But life extends
to a place where one must stand
pick a side for your conscience
align it with a man’s
where passion and truth
can no longer be ignored.
So I push my hat towards
center of the ring
Entertainment’s what they say it’s to sing
but thousands of voices 
start to cry
they want a tooth for a tooth
when your work get’s wild
I wish you wouldn’t  
check your taste at the door

Is it worth it
say what they say you can’t say
Is it worth it
To sing what they say you can’t sing
Is it worth it
to play what they say you can’t play
Is it worth it, etc
To bring who they say you can’t bring
To do what they say you can’t do 
To say what they say you can’t say
To draw what they say you can’t draw
To play what they say you can’t play
To be what they say you can’t be

© 2017 Mohinga Music ASCAP

Is It Worth It

New Orleans (Americana)

Time With Yourself

Bullet-Like Belief

Feelin' Low

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad

Publicity: Steve Albertson / Baby Robot Media - stevealbertson@babyrobotmedia.com

Label: Manda Mosher / Blackbird Record Label -manda@blackbirdrecordlabel.com

It took two decades of acclaimed songwriting for Ben Musser to make his solo debut. 

As the frontman behind projects like Benyaro, he spent years in collaborative mode, stretching the limits of American roots music while teaming up with other musicians. Benyaro earned its share of accolades, playing everywhere from SXSW to the Sundance Film Festival. Even so, Musser — who juggled multiple instruments onstage, singing and strumming his acoustic guitar while simultaneously playing kick drum, hi-hat, and shaker with his feet — couldn't help but feel like something else loomed just out of sight, waiting to take shape. 

He turns a new page with Sentimental Fever. It's more than the first album to be released under his own name; it's also the singular work of a one-man band, with Musser writing every song, playing every instrument, and sharing co-production duties with Scott Mathews. Released during an era of digital automation, Sentimental Fever is a classic album for the modern age, its 11 tracks rooted in sharp song craft, lushly-layered organic arrangements, and the sweat equity of a self-sufficient songwriter who's never defined his abilities — or his ambitions — so clearly before. 

"With this album, I’m finally beginning to realize my potential as a singer/songwriter who can write compelling songs and perform all the parts I have in my head," says Musser, who wrote Sentimental Fever at home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and recorded it at Mathews' studio in Mill Valley, California. "It’s an achievement that’s been a long time in the making — the truest embodiment of myself, musically and artistically, to date."

After logging time in musical epicenters like Nashville, Austin, and New York City, Musser moved to Jackson Hole during the late 2000s. The beauty of the Wyoming mountains was stunning, but he missed the artistic inspiration that had surrounded him back east. When the Covid-19 pandemic brought his touring schedule to a halt, he used the downtime to improve his chops as a keyboardist and upright bassist. New songs began to take shape on those instruments, from "Falling by the Wayside" — a propulsive, pissed-off rocker, pushed forward by Wurlitzer and slide guitar — and the romantic, Rhodes-driven love song "And to Think." Musser kept writing songs over the months that followed, embracing the full spread of his musical influences. "I'm the Lucky One" nodded to doo-wop music. The gorgeous piano ballad "Fearless Little Pearl" paid tribute to his young daughter. "Love Yourself" unfolded like a personal pep talk, stacked high with seize-the-day sentiment and Americana textures. "New York Is The Place" and "Never See Her Face" showcased his unique, percussive strumming pattern on the acoustic guitar, a combination of string pulling and popping inspired by Americana cult hero Malcolm Holcombe. Together, these new tunes found Musser taking stock of the sentimental things in his life: family, fatherhood, love lost, love found, and everything in between. 

"I'm learning what kind of person I am — a very sensitive artist type — and I'm not fighting that anymore," he admits. "There was an angsty edge to Benyaro records like One Step Ahead of My Life, where I was pushing back against what was happening in my life. But here, I'm putting my hands up, embracing the fact that I'm a softie, and being more appreciative."

Meanwhile, Musser worked with his wife — fine art dealer Camille Obering — to build Guesthouse, an art space on the couple's property in Wyoming. It was a place capable of hosting house concerts, art exhibitions, and other events. More than two thousand miles away from their former artistic stomping grounds of New York City, the couple began assembling their own artistic community out west, one that included musicians like Aaron Lee Tasjan and Walker Young; artists like Matthew Day Jackson, Marc Horowitz, and Mallory Page; and fashion designer and producer Zeb Smith. Another person who entered Musser's extended social circle was Scott Mathews, a California-based producer, instrumentalist, and Grammy-winning legend known for his work with icons like The Beach Boys and Jack Nitzsche. A mutual appreciation for one another's work turned into a decision to work together, and Musser soon found himself in Mill Valley, recording every instrument on Sentimental Fever — drums, keys, guitar, bass, even accordion — during a demanding two-week session. "It was the most intense recording session I've ever been part of," he remembers. "I was doing everything myself, so we were doing one piece at a time, bit by bit."

"Ben has a mighty creative force that exudes transcendent authenticity," says Mathews, "His unique discovery of unexpected logic is channeled and performed with heart and soul. High time the world discovers him!"

Musser and Mathews were natural collaborators. "I think he recognized a lot of himself in me," Musser says. "Scott played drums with the Beach Boys after Dennis passed away, but he was a multi-instrumentalist, too, and he'd done a lot of that on his records. He pushed me to do the same, and he gave me the green light to take risks that otherwise I might not have taken." Musser's sister and father contributed vocal harmonies to tracks like "Please Lord Keep My Babies Safe," but Sentimental Fever was almost entirely created during those two weeks in the Bay Area, with Musser filling each song with the sounds of a multi-hyphenate musician at the peak of his powers. 

"I think I've been trying to get here this whole time," he says. "This is the first time I've made an album that doesn't have songs written with — or by — other people, and my first time playing all these instruments. It's been years of making music and art, and it’s such a happy relief to feel as though you’ve finally captured what’s going on inside of you, inside your head, inside your fingers and limbs and heart."

Sentimental, indeed. But with Sentimental Fever, Ben Musser gives himself permission to feel it all.

Ben Musser

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