Benjamin Booker
Monday 29th September 2014
New Orleans-based musician Benjamin Booker isn’t the first singer/guitarist to filter electric blues through a punk rock sensibility—he has been vocal about taking inspiration from Jack White and Gun Club bandleader Jeffrey Lee Pierce—but he is certainly the best new artist in a long while to push the blues further into the 21st century.
Booker and his touring band, drummer Max Norton and bassist Alex Spoto, have been cutting their teeth opening for White, playing festivals (including Lollapalooza, The Newport Folk Festival and FYF Fest) and performing on late night television (they made their network debut on The Late Show with David Letterman in April).
Booker’s self-titled debut album, released via ATO and Rough Trade, is twelve original tracks of explosive, swaggering modern blues. Standout cuts include first single “Violent Shiver,” the revved up soul of “Wicked Waters,” mid-tempo fuzz rocker “Happy Homes,” the harrowing “I Thought I Heard You Screaming” and slow burner “Kids Never Growing Older.”
October Tour Dates:
01 Oct The Record Bar in Kansas City, MO
03 Oct Three Links in Dallas, TX
04 Oct Austin City Limits, Austin, TX
10 Oct Continental Club in Austin, TX
11 Oct Austin City Limits, Austin, TX
17 Oct The Bottletree in Birmingham, AL
18 Oct Vinyl in Atlanta, GA
20 Oct U Street Music Hall in Washington, DC
21 Oct World Cafe Live – Downstairs in Philadelphia, PA
22 Oct TT the Bear's in Cambridge, MA
24 Oct Club Downunder in Tallahassee, FL
25 Oct Coral Skies Music Festival in Tampa, FL
26 Oct Coral Skies Music Festival in West Palm Beach, FL
29 Oct The Social in Orlando, FL
30 Oct High Dive in Gainesville, FL
31 Oct Soul Kitchen in Mobile, AL
Written by August Forte