The Rebirth of Cool
Ben Harper defies musical classification.
Story by Jeff Zillgitt
Ben Harper is a music store manger's anomaly.
Defying classification, Harper's sound transcends many genres, forcing the record store manager to pick one area to place Harper's CDs.
Harper is part blues, part soul, part gospel, part reggae, part rock. Take the Mississippi Delta blues sound of Robert Johnson, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye and put them in a bowl — the result of that eclectic melting pot is Ben Harper.
Born into a musical family and brought up with the groovin' vibes of Hendrix, Marley, the blues and Motown jammin' from his parents' record player, Harper's influences are easily identifiable. It is also why Harper's music is so difficult to type.
I walked into a Tower Records in Washington, D.C., looking for Harper's second release, "Fight For Your Mind." I checked the rock/pop, blues, reggae and soul sections. No Ben Harper. After describing Harper's rare sound to a Tower Records employee, she asked if I checked all the aforementioned sections and finally directed me to the jazz area, where she pointed me to Harper's CDs.
Harper, in his quiet unassuming way, laughs at the story.
"You can't put my music in a general music section," Harper says. "It needs a section all by itself. Call it the Ben Rack. But seriously, we're just doing our own thing."
After two well-received, critically-acclaimed releases — his 1993 debut "Welcome to the Cruel World" and "Fight for Your Mind" in 1995 — Harper, unfortunately still needs introduction to much of the music world. With his haunting and uplifting voice, mesmerizing slide guitar, and fresh lyrics free from dreadful cliches, he deserves more radio play than your local, weak-signaled progressive radio station can provide.
Harper's signature stringed-instrument is the Weissenborn, a hollow-neck slide guitar made of koa wood in the 1920s by Herman Weissenborn. "I am drawn to the resonating sound of the Weissenborn. It's the resonance," says Harper, whose grandparents own a music store near his roots in California's San Gabriel Valley. "Every time I pick up a Weissenborn and play, that's how I feel. It is expressive. Very expressive. Especially to me."
But while his love for the Weissenborn comes shining through his music, he handles the acoustic guitar with equal aplomb. With no formal teaching, Harper learned to play guitar by listening to his parents' Delta blues collection. He used to keep setting the needle back on his parents' Robert Johnson records to copy the chords.
"I'd just listen to the old Delta blues records and apply that style to the bottle neck and apply my own style to the lap slide," Harper says.
To focus too heavily on Harper's brilliant guitar playing would be remiss, for it would be ignoring other crucial aspects of Harper's work. On "Walk Away" from "Welcome to the Cruel World", Harper skillfully employs his touch on the acoustic guitar while blending in his graceful voice and sad, hopeless lyrics:
"And it hurts me to look into the mirror at myself and it hurts even more to have to be with somebody else and it's so hard to do and so easy to say but sometimes sometimes, you just have to walk away walk away"
"I let emotion write the song," Harper says. "And I express some of my emotion through music."
Some of Harper's songs ring loud with political and social activism. He doesn't come off as a cause-monger when he sings "Give a Man a Home," attacks The Establishment in "Excuse Me Mister," advocates smoking pot in "Burn One Down," sings of lost love in "Another Lonely Day," and racial oppression in his version of Maya Angelou's poem "I'll Rise."
"A lot of songs are just straight what I'm feeling," says Harper
In addition to his own albums, Harper played with Taj Mahal on "Follow the Drinking Gourd," a compelling tale of a family's escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad and the Big Dipper, also known as the drinking gourd. Narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, "Follow the Drinking Gourd" was a 1995 Grammy nominee for best spoken word album for children.
Harper is coolly nondescript, meaning you wouldn't recognize him on the street. In fact, I needed a double-take when the diminutive Harper — about 5-8, 5-9 — hopped off the bus and walked through the front doors of The Bayou, a cozy club along the Potomac River in the Georgetown district of Washington, D.C.
With the stylin' Dr. J fro circa 1976, the hip Converse shoes all the cool cats are wearing, and an old nameless, teamless and numberless football jersey, Ben Harper could easily be the poster child for the rebirth of cool. The retro looking Harper looks as if he just stepped off Sly and the Family Stone's tour bus.
When Harper finally comes on stage, he doles out a few nods and unspoken hellos. He sits down and is surrounded by six or seven lap and acoustic guitars. He then delves into his energy-filled, soul-moving two-plus hour show.
While mostly letting loose with his own bagful of tunes and exquisite guitar work, Harper covers Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" and puts a soulful exclamation mark on Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing."
"I know when I have good gigs and when I have bad gigs," Harper says.
Harper has been on the road for much of the last three years, but he recently took a break to make his third CD, "The Will to Live".
"The last three years has been a constant push," Harper says. "If you pace yourself and stay off the bad stuff, stay off the addictions, everything from partying to narcotics . . ." He lets the statement die and gives life to a new one. "It is such a privilege to play music, to not be in your top form is not fair . . . to me or the audience," he says.
Early plans call for 12 songs on "The Will to Live," including the title track. Al Anderson of The Wailors plays acoustic guitar on "Jah Work." The album fluctuates between wah-wah blues, gospel, hip-hop, reggae and soul.
"The next album will be another step up from the last," says Harper.
While touring and recording has taken much of Harper's time during the last three years, he hasn't yet caved into record company demands.
"No record company can put as much pressure on me as me," Harper says. "I just want to challenge my own abilities. Abilities unchallenged are abilities unevolved. I just have an appreciation for music, and I have to thank everyone for the strong musical support."
Is Harper surprised at what he has accomplished?
"To say yes is arrogant, and to say no is underestimating all the hard work," Harper says.
© 1996 Tweak