SONG OF THE DAY
“Forgiven” by Ben Harper (Burn To Shine, Virgin Records, 1999). Written by Ben Harper.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
- This 1999 album featured many of Harper’s strong suits: blues, rock, soul, and folk, as well as included several college radio fan favorites with songs like Steal My Kisses and Suzie Blue.
- Written entirely by Harper, Burn To Shine is the work of extremes its title might imply: A record where a jarring paean to alienation (“Less”) is sandwiched between tender and emotive meditations on love and spirituality (“The Woman In You,” “Two Hands Of A Prayer”). The opening “Alone” and closing one-two of ‘Beloved One” and “In The Lord’s Arms” are pure soul laid bare: arguably the most vulnerable moments Harper has committed to record. As an artist fluent in virtually every musical tongue, in a world where most struggle to master one, he has made diversity his stock in trade. The half a year spent on Burn To Shine is the longest period of time Harper and the returning team of producer J.P. Plunier and engineer/mixer Eric Sarafin have spent working on one of his records. Ben Harper is aware of both the obstacles and advantages of these passionate explorations. While the sheer scope of records that shift from purist folk to Delta blues to hard rock may confound radio programmers, they also afford an artist untold opportunities.
- By the time Burn To Shine was released, Ben Harper had already guested on records by Beth Orton, John Lee Hooker, Warren Haynes and Government Mule, played two Tibetan Freedom Concerts alongside the likes of Beastie Boys and Radiohead, opened for Metallica, Pearl Jam, The Fugees, The Roots, Marilyn Manson, played the Montreux Jazz Festival with REM, as well as headlining major venues in France, Italy, Australia and New Zealand (all countries where Harper’s previous three LPs have achieved gold and/or platinum status, bringing his worldwide catalogue sales close to the two million mark).
- Harper was born in Claremont, in California’s Inland Empire. His father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother immigrated from Lithuania.
- Harper began playing guitar as a child. His maternal grandparents’ music store The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather. During the ‘80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Next, Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn.