Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Ben Kweller

Artist:Ben Kweller
Song:Commerce, TX
Album:Sha Sha




Singer songwriter Ben Kweller has built his fanbase on the slacker vibe of this 2002 debut CD. He seems to be headed in a more country direction. He was born June 16, 1981 in San Francisco and grew up in Greenville, TX. His doctor father is long time pals with E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren and Lofgren encouraged Kweller to write songs at a very early age. Kweller formed the group Radish in 1993 and Lofgren helped them get a contract with Mercury Records. Radish was a victim of the 1999 Universal takeover of Polygram. Radish split up and Kweller moved to New York and started performing in clubs. He released some EPs and Evan Dando of The Lemonheads invited him on tour. When he came back, he signed with Dave Matthews' ATO label. The 2002 Sha Sha was his debut CD and presents Kweller as a slacker. His albums have sold well and Kweller is a very popular live act. His latest CD Changing Horses was released last month and takes Kweller in a country direction with pedal steel guitar and other country music trappings. It should be interesting to see how this plays with his established fanbase. Here's the video for Commerce, TX by Ben Kweller which definitely plays into the whole slacker thing.

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