during my sophomore year of college, i went to a concert at the 'warehouse', a multipurpose space on campus that hosted various events and, at that time, had a small cafe upstairs (R.I.P.)...
i was mostly excited about the 'headliner' - a singer-songwriter type named Dave Barnes, whose albums provided a steady stream of hopelessly romantic songs for the various mix CDs that i made throughout high school - believe it or not, BEFORE everyone abandoned their ipods for iphones. full disclosure though - Dave Barnes was by no means a major musical artist - our small liberal arts school's budget for a homecoming 'concert' was limited to smaller singer-songwriter types or up-and-coming-before-they-were-up-and-coming-and-might-not-make-it-anyway.
i showed up to the concert precisely on time with a few friends - regardless of our punctuality, there were only probably 75 people there. we sat on the wood floors of the warehouse, waiting, only to discover there would be an opening act, previously unannounced - ben rector.
i don't really remember much other than dancing and playing along and being pretty delighted that a singer-songwriter could excel at just playing the keyboard in the way that Ben did. i had always gravitated toward keys-heavy pop - your John Legends, Gavin Degraws, Eric Hutchinsons, Jon McLaughlins - i probably lost you at gavin, if you even remember who that is.
i didn't realize it at the moment, but Ben Rector's would get me through some of the best and worst times in the years to come. i bought his album Songs that Duke Wrote at the end of that concert, and i was instantly hooked.
he released Into the Morning in the spring of 2010 while I was abroad in France, and made me feel at home when i was the furthest away from home i'd ever been.
he released Something Like This during the fall of my senior year of college in 2011, and its songs were the soundtrack as i fell for my first and only real love. i remember that i couldn't stop whistling along to the song 'falling in love' as i was doing just that.
he released The Walking In Between during my second year of Teach for America, and 'when i'm with you' picked me up after one of the toughest years of my life and 'sailboat' carried me through a really difficult second year of teaching.
he released Brand New in the fall of my second year of architecture school, when i was just finding my place there. 'favorite song' easily became my favorite song, with its clever mashup of song lyrics from the favorite songs of millions everywhere. i sang along wholeheartedly to 'almost home' every time i crossed the fayette county line and i cranked the radio every time the Cincinnati pop stations played 'brand new' when it kinda sorta caught some pop radio momentum.
he just released a new album called Magic - and honestly i think his music is that for me. i used to get sort of embarrassed - people didn't really know who he was, or maybe he sounded too white-christian-male-pop without being overtly Christian, or maybe it's just me overthinking it. but there's a song on his new album called 'sometimes', which is essentially about the one that got away, and how we always occasionally make our way back to thinking about that one relationship that felt like it should've worked out but didn't. and if that isn't exactly how i feel 'sometimes' (pun intended), but especially at this moment, several years removed from said relationship - it's almost creepy how spot on his songwriting has been for this and every particular season of life.
i was mostly excited about the 'headliner' - a singer-songwriter type named Dave Barnes, whose albums provided a steady stream of hopelessly romantic songs for the various mix CDs that i made throughout high school - believe it or not, BEFORE everyone abandoned their ipods for iphones. full disclosure though - Dave Barnes was by no means a major musical artist - our small liberal arts school's budget for a homecoming 'concert' was limited to smaller singer-songwriter types or up-and-coming-before-they-were-up-and-coming-and-might-not-make-it-anyway.
i showed up to the concert precisely on time with a few friends - regardless of our punctuality, there were only probably 75 people there. we sat on the wood floors of the warehouse, waiting, only to discover there would be an opening act, previously unannounced - ben rector.
i don't really remember much other than dancing and playing along and being pretty delighted that a singer-songwriter could excel at just playing the keyboard in the way that Ben did. i had always gravitated toward keys-heavy pop - your John Legends, Gavin Degraws, Eric Hutchinsons, Jon McLaughlins - i probably lost you at gavin, if you even remember who that is.
i didn't realize it at the moment, but Ben Rector's would get me through some of the best and worst times in the years to come. i bought his album Songs that Duke Wrote at the end of that concert, and i was instantly hooked.
he released Into the Morning in the spring of 2010 while I was abroad in France, and made me feel at home when i was the furthest away from home i'd ever been.
he released Something Like This during the fall of my senior year of college in 2011, and its songs were the soundtrack as i fell for my first and only real love. i remember that i couldn't stop whistling along to the song 'falling in love' as i was doing just that.
he released The Walking In Between during my second year of Teach for America, and 'when i'm with you' picked me up after one of the toughest years of my life and 'sailboat' carried me through a really difficult second year of teaching.
he released Brand New in the fall of my second year of architecture school, when i was just finding my place there. 'favorite song' easily became my favorite song, with its clever mashup of song lyrics from the favorite songs of millions everywhere. i sang along wholeheartedly to 'almost home' every time i crossed the fayette county line and i cranked the radio every time the Cincinnati pop stations played 'brand new' when it kinda sorta caught some pop radio momentum.
he just released a new album called Magic - and honestly i think his music is that for me. i used to get sort of embarrassed - people didn't really know who he was, or maybe he sounded too white-christian-male-pop without being overtly Christian, or maybe it's just me overthinking it. but there's a song on his new album called 'sometimes', which is essentially about the one that got away, and how we always occasionally make our way back to thinking about that one relationship that felt like it should've worked out but didn't. and if that isn't exactly how i feel 'sometimes' (pun intended), but especially at this moment, several years removed from said relationship - it's almost creepy how spot on his songwriting has been for this and every particular season of life.
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