Vocals:
Joseph "Chinaman" Johnson and Group -  Falling Down
Maestross - Acapella

Hal Mayforth - guitars, bass and drum programming
Voices of Ghosts is a bridge between the past and the present.  I have found old vocals from the first half of the 20th century (found from various sources and with painstaking pleasure) and built instrumentation around them.  In most cases, the collaboration developed organically, and I have tried to respect the originals by not burdening them with excessive contributions.  The result, I think, is an interesting hybrid, well worth the listening.  (All selections are public domain, to the best of my knowledge.)   If I have taken any liberties here, I hope the ghosts will forgive me.

Falling Down

Hal Mayforth - National Steel Guitar, Bass
Thomas Marshal - Arhoolie Cornfield Hollar
Voices of Ghosts is a bridge between the past and the present.  I have found old vocals from the first half of the 20th century (found from various sources and with painstaking pleasure) and built instrumentation around them.  In most cases, the collaboration developed organically, and I have tried to respect the originals by not burdening them with excessive contributions.  The result, I think, is an interesting hybrid, well worth the listening.  (All selections are public domain, to the best of my knowledge.)   If I have taken any liberties here, I hope the ghosts will forgive me.

Cornfield Hollar

Voices of Ghosts is a bridge between the past and the present.  I have found old vocals from the first half of the 20th century (found from various sources and with painstaking pleasure) and built instrumentation around them.  In most cases, the collaboration developed organically, and I have tried to respect the originals by not burdening them with excessive contributions.  The result, I think, is an interesting hybrid, well worth the listening.  (All selections are public domain, to the best of my knowledge.)   If I have taken any liberties here, I hope the ghosts will forgive me.

Sermon

And The Word Was God

Hear My Bossman Calling

I Am The Way (Mtuba)

eine kleine nacht musik.
one night this came. 2 tracks.line 6 delay, freeze pedal and looper minimally used.

Density

Motherless Children

Aint No Grave

Upbeat, original tune by VFBB. Guitar, bass, drums and harp make you want to move.

Ben's Blues

Blues is the foundation of the house.  That's the bedrock.  But there are many rooms in the house: Memphis soul, reggae, rock and roll.  Those closest to my heart and soul (Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Son House, Lowell George, Hendrix) have all been influential and  impeccable guides along my musical path.  When all is said and done, though, it's just me: a composite of my loves and influences.  I hope you enjoy the music.  

When my Montpelier, VT band, The Heckhounds, dissolved in 2015 and I moved to Massachusetts, I was band-less and left to my own devices for the time being.  I came across old recordings, online and elsewhere, of chain gangs singing, field hollers, preachers preaching and congregations moaning and wailing.  They fascinated me.  I began to layer instrumental tracks around these "found vocals" and created a set of hybrid songs, mixing old and new.  Except for some loops, I played all the instruments.  Eventually, I recorded three albums in what I refer to as my "Ghost" series: Voices of Ghosts (2014), Ghost Dance (2016), and Ghost Notes (2017).

After a few years of playing around others' voices, I wanted to get back to my own voice and songs, and I began working on the songs that would eventually become Trouble in Tubertown (2018).  I followed that, a year later, with  Hitchhiking on the Wrong Side of the Road (2019).  On both albums, I use drum loops but play all other instruments, even learning harmonica for the last album.  And while these albums differ from each other, both return me to my love of songwriting and of crafting and arranging my own songs.

And The Word Was God

may4th

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