Hot on the heels of his killer performance at the "Change Begins Within" benefit in NYC with Paul and Ringo, Ben Harper has plugged his guitar back in and cranked up the amp for his new album White Lies For Dark Times. It's an 11-song set soaked with hard rock and the deep Delta blues. “It’s a sound I’ve been looking for and reaching for in my mind.”...................which means the album is more Cream than Jack Johnson, more “Faded” than “Steal My Kisses.”
But while there's more fuzz in the riffs and thunder in the beats, the lyrics are still quintessential Harper, singing, "It takes a hundred miles of love to heal a mile of pain" on "Shimmer and Shine."
In addition to being his heaviest offering, the album is also his first with the Relentless7 — guitarist Jason Mozersky, drummer Jordan Richardson and bassist Jesse Ingalls — the trio of Austin-based musicians previously worked on Harper's 2006 album Both Sides of the Gun. Harper said that he first heard Mozersky when a particularly insistent van driver blared a demo while carrying Harper to an Austin gig.
The release date for the album is May 5; the tour kicks off a few days before on the 2nd. Here are the dates and venues for May:
05/02/09 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
05/04/09 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
05/05/09 New York, NY Webster Hall
05/08/09 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg
05/09/09 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of The Living Arts
05/10/09 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
05/15/09 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
05/16/09 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
05/25/09 Quincy, WA Gorge Amphitheatre
05/27/09 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
05/28/09 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
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