By Jeffrey Pierre / Entertainment Director
It was his dream internship at his dream job — a college graduate looking to work in public radio.
And he didn’t get it.
Benjamin Booker had just graduated from the University of Florida and after the rejection letter in 2012, he crossed-off interning at NPR from his list and decided to go with his second option: music. The 22-year-old started playing shows as a solo artist in his hometown of Tampa, Florida.
The next year, a nonprofit job opportunity presented itself in New Orleans, Louisiana and Booker, who was eager to leave Florida, packed his bags. Soon after, he recorded a low-fi blues-influenced folk-punk bathroom recording on an acoustic guitar. The EP had four songs. He managed to make a name for himself in New Orleans as well, playing shows here and there while promoting his self-produced EP.
The year was going pretty well and his music was taking off.
He went back to Tampa and connected with his now drummer Max Norton and formed a garage-gospel duo called Booker & Norton. The two were even named 2013’s Best New Band by Creative Loafing in Tampa.
In October of that same year, Jon Salter of ATO Records visited the two, who were playing a show at Tampa’s New World Brewery. They signed a record deal in a parking lot, according to Booker.
In December of 2013, Booker and his full band, playing under the name Benjamin Booker, were looking at six days to record an album and a year of touring that would include a show at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, Lollapalooza in Chicago and an appearance on David Letterman.
In every sense of the phrase, Booker was an instant success. He eventually caught the attention of a not-so-old love, NPR, and told his story of rejection to triumph to Arun Rath on “All Things Considered.”
The album is complete. It has soul. It has movement and progression. The question with Booker’s first album in not whether it’s good music, but can he recreate and maybe build upon the energy of his self-titled album for a second, third or even fourth time?
“The guy I play bass with, Alex, actually did intern at NPR. He probably took the internship that I didn’t get,” he told Rath. The two laughed at the humor of it.
“So NPR did you a favor in a way – or the musical world favor because I’m sure you would’ve been a great intern,” Rath said.
For a first timer, Booker’s self titled album is a punk-blues masterpiece.
The album opens with “Violent Shiver,” a boogie-blues track where Booker voice–– harsh and gnarled, yet delicate, vulnerable and soft–– chants “We found a way,” on top a repetitive guitar riff.
The energy fluctuates throughout album; however, works well.
The first drop comes in an organ lead ballad “Slow Coming,” where Booker foreshadows and warns of a gloomy future slowing approaching. “Although our parents fought to be equal, the state decides true love. If they only knew,” he sings. His soft spoken rasp builds up to chorus where he wails, “Honestly, I cannot be bothered now. To tell you the truth I ain’t been sleepin too well.”
There’s a lot of depth to Booker’s music. On the surface and first listen, it’s an album that can get even get the most uptight to move their feet. The album could stand just on its groove. But Booker put more into the album than that. Many of the songs are personal.
In “Have You Seen My Son,” Booker speaks from the place of a mother worried about son falling to the world’s vices. “I said God must love everyone even the ones he just loves the least. They say that when a mother loves a child she will do most anything. I know that I can never make it right but it’s hard to hear you say have you seen my son? He’s lost in the world somewhere.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Booker said “that song was [about] the day I realized that they weren’t ever going to be completely happy with what I was doing and it just has to be something that’s fine.” Booker comes from a conservative family ––his dad served in the military for 20 years and his mother studied theology.
Booker says, most of the songs were written to be used as a conversation starter with friends. In “I Thought I Heard You Screaming,” Booker sings a lullaby-like conversational words reflecting on a friendship with a self-destructive girl who rode with Booker down a dark path.
“Set yourself on fire so high, so high. I could feel your heart was beating. Did you love me or was it drugs?” Booker sings.
The album is complete. It has soul. It has movement and progression. The question with Booker’s first album in not whether it’s good music, but can he recreate and maybe build upon the energy of his self-titled album for a second, third or even fourth time?
But until then, the 25-year-old is a rock star.
-jeffrey.pierre@fiusm.com
In many ways, Tampa is a lot like New Orleans. YBor city is similar to the french quarter, but tyou can’t drink on the streets and it shuts down at 3AM. NEW ORLEANS NEVER SHUTS DOWN!