Brendan Benson

I know that I might be a little late to the party here on Brendan Benson, considering how well the Raconteurs have done over the past couple of years, but I would like to talk about his solo work. No one that has any interest in music deny's the talent and innovation of Jack White and that all he does is somehow musically relevant. I mean, he made a documentary movie called "It Might Get Loud" where he and the Edge and most importantly Jimmy Page talk about music, specifically the guitar and it's influence on music. It's so focused on White that the others seem like supporting players in the Jack White show. This information is presented just to illustrate how important Jack Whites oppinion is in the music world, and he chose Benson to be a part of one of his (many) projects speaks volumes to the talent of this particticular artist. The first thing I listened to by Benson was the Metarie EP with the Well Fed Boys, and I really enjoyed the title track that was sentimental and self-depricating without being trite and annoying. From this I dug a little deeper and decided to purchase One Mississippi which I think is a great record. Very poppy, but with enough edge to make it worth while. Like on the track Sittin Pretty, "my baby is tied to a chair. don't she look pretty just sitting there." and when he gets to the line "and when she wants some air she tells me" and in the background you hear a woman say "i can't breath". it's that tongue-in-cheek air to legitimate songwriting that makes Benson one of my favorite artists making music out there at the moment.