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ON THE ROAD WITH SCOTT on Rock & Roots: 2014 FORECASTLE - On Site!!! #2

BENJAMIN BOOKER & CREW DROP ATOM BOMB ON LOUVUL!!!

 
Wow. Best thing about a Fest is getting to hear bands you've only heard about. Maybe a clip on YouTube, or a Spotify hit. Mike and I were really looking forward to seeing this guy. 
 
HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT. The dude is, like, 22 and he and his buds play like they are 80 year old blues men from Yazoo City, Mississippi. Drummer Max Norton and bass player Alex Spoto set a solid rhythmic floor that Benjamin dances on with a reverb soaked "oomph" matched perfectly with this gritty vocal --- which is mind blowing if you heard him speak. It's like "where did that come from?"
 
Two highlights aside from the upcoming single: a straight out punk rendering of Otis Redding and The Pinetoppers hit " Shout Bamalama" that may've put a crack in the Yum Center. And, ended his one hour set with Alex on Cajun fiddle and Max on mandolin, but stuck to his own electric axe. Creepy, spooky good. Not hard to believe the Cajun influence since Ben and Alex relocated to New Orleans from Tampa after college to work for the community non-profit "Hands On." 
 
Benjamin's first album, self-titled, drops on August 19.  Don't walk to your record store . . . RUN. Go ahead and buy the download, but do yourself a solid - buy the vinyl. Music this strong, this funky, this gut wrenching bluesy, yet imminently groovy, deserves the sound that is only produced by a turntable. 
 
Scott The Cyclone, aka Mike's Lawyer

Benjamine Booker @ Forecastel...
Benjamine Booker @ Forecastel...