Ben Harper

Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

Music, Performing Arts, Arts

4.9 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ben Harper is a 3x Grammy winner who has amassed international praise for his genre-traversing body of work. He joins Rhett on this episode to talk about his life as a young musician, the creative projects he’s currently working on, and shares the advice he would give his 21-year old self. The two dive into the craft of songwriting and Ben tells Rhett about the time that Leonard Cohen visited his family’s music store. Ben Harper has produced albums by Mavis Staples, Rickie Lee Jones, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Maines, Ziggy Marley, and others. An inveterate collaborator, Harper has also recorded with a diverse span of artists ranging from John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, to Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and, most recently, Harry Styles, to contribute his signature guitar work to the superstar’s chart-topping album, HARRY’S HOUSE. Harper joined Styles for an astounding 12 nights of performances at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles this past fall. His critically acclaimed album, WIDE OPEN LIGHT, is out now. Ben Harper website Ben Harper on IG @benharper Rhett Miller website Rhett on IG @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive produced by Kirsten Cluthe. Editing by Matt Dwyer. Music by OLD 97’s. Episode artwork by Katherine Boils and Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Distributed in partnership with Osiris Media. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, The Milk Carton Kids, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	O'SIrhus
0:02.0	Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life. I'm Rhett Miller.
0:10.0	That's when it got wheels off.
0:13.0	He started ugly ain't gonna stop.
0:16.0	Oh, she made me feel like a good God.
0:19.0	That's when it got wheels off. Ben Harper doesn't need who been
0:28.3	He's a badger is.
0:31.4	He's a badass, and he's been doing it a long time at a high level.
0:37.8	And I could list off a bunch of Grammys that he's won
0:40.8	and a bunch of musical milestones that he's hit during his career.
0:48.2	And they are all well-deserved.
0:50.9	This guy is a hard-working musician, a musician's musician, if you will.
1:01.5	He's what they call the real deal. He has a new record out June 2nd on Chrysalis called Wide Open Light.
1:08.8	He makes an appearance on an Apple TV Plus show called
1:12.6	Extrapolations in the finale where he performs a Marvin Gay classic Mercy,
1:17.3	Mercy, Mercy, Me. He likes to skateboard, which he touches on towards the end of this interview.
1:26.7	He's a deep guy, He's a deep guy.
1:28.0	He's a thoughtful guy.
1:29.5	I got to sit in my office in the Hudson Valley and talk to Ben Harper from his office in
1:36.1	California on this lovely spring day.
1:39.6	And what fun it was.
1:42.5	He's somebody I've always admired.
	...

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