BEN WEAVER: Stories Under Nails

Ben Weaver

Stories Under Nails

© 2004 Ben Weaver (614511725927)

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Gutter pulpit sermons.

tracks

1 Greive All You Want
2 Voice in the Wilderness
3 Old Mission
4 Sway With Me
5 John Martin
6 Cold House
7 Like a Wound
8 40 Watt Bulb
9 Handed Down
10 Old Mule
11 Broken By 2
12 Ragged Words

notes

NEW YORK TIMES - "...country-rooted Americana full of weary determination and aphoristic clarity, somewhere between the Band and Tom Waits."

HARP - "Weaver sounds like a man who sees ghosts,
not his own reflection, in the mirror each morning. Damaged goods or adept stroyteller? Both, probably. But by locating the razor thin divide between a man's last glimpse of sunlight and his first sighting of hell's gates,
Weaver shocks the rest of us into facing what we might
otherwise turn away from."

Larry Brown (Author of Fay) - "Ben Weaver is the most exciting young songwriter I've come across, an American original whose voice and guitar are matched only by the power of his words. His songs are an incredible, haunting gift of music."

UTNE - "Weaver's been hanging out in America's forgotten corners, crafting these musical postcards that recall a rural Tom Waits, or Greg Brown in his dark, bluesy moments. He's like that spooky old guy who lives in a trailer but tells amazing stories."

UNCUT **** - "Weaver's voice - which makes Lee Marvin sound like Aled Jones - lends biblical portent to the most mundane detail. A one-man Brothers Grimm with no happy endings. Enjoy."

MOJO **** - "...strange, skin-prickling tales picked up from the Moebius strip of a lost highway he's been compelled to travel on.... like a hillbilly Leonard Cohen."

Q' "Weaver's brand of youthful rebellion comes filtered through the mad-staring eyes of a corn-chewing old-timer."
No Depression - "Riveting, invigorating, illuminating...Weaver's up to the Challenge."

LONDON TIMEOUT - "Quietly magnificent."


BEN WEAVER BIOGRAPH

Minneapolis, Mn --- Uncommonly blunt, constitutionally uncompromising and tossing off sparks like a Van Der Graf generator, singer-songwriter Ben Weaver crankily announces the release of Stories Under Nails, the young artist's new collection of otherworldly examinations of life's seemingly bottomless supply of boneheaded maneuvers, faithless lovers, broken dreams and shit that just don't work like it oughta.

Steeped in Minnesota's north woods, Weaver boasts a sepulchral voice, a poetic eye and a common tongue. Long lonely months walking trap lines trained his ear to find music in the wilderness; it's a feral music that resonates throughout his intensely personal, Northern Gothic visions-stark, flinty, hypnotic fever dreams that conjure an unholy intersection of Donner Pass and Carnival of Souls.

Driven to share his incendiary visions with a world all-too-accustomed to mindless wading in ankle-deep pop cultural backwash, the erstwhile woodsman has moved his home base to a Twin Cities home, yet his bone-shivering tales continue to come from a dank, spooky place most mortals wouldn't dare enter.

On Stories Under Nails, Weaver and his earthy guitar and banjo are accompanied by an electric, inventive combo that employs a wide variety of string and percussion instruments to provide the singer with layered, ever-shifting sound scapes that range from disarmingly comforting to disturbingly metallic (as in a blacksmith shop, not like, say, the Sabs).

Weaver's startling lyrics arrive as free verse, morbid prose, itchy stream-of-consciousness or even knotty word gymnastics, but in every case, there's some kind of menace that needs dealing with or a physiological mess to clean up. His is not a sunny world by any stretch, but it'll sure as heck get-and hold-your attention.

Still, as you might guess, there is a strong undercurrent of bemused resignation and a healthy dose of black-hearted humor throughout this mind-bending sojourn, and despite its rough exterior, there is an abiding-if tentative-hope for salvation and deliverance.

By any measure, Ben Weaver's music is unique, challenging, provocative and utterly unforgettable.

reviews

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  • Excellent Album
    author: Chris Alder

    Droning & melancholy, but both in a good way, this album focuses on the singer/songwriter with the subtle compliments of a well produced band.

  • Ben Weaver's CD is mood music you will remember
    author: www.GreatIndieMusic.com

    If you need to realize that life can throw you a raw deal every once in a while. Ben cd will remind you that life is hard and bad things do happen. Great job on the cd. Keep up the good work!

  • startling, scary and relevant
    author: Bruce Woodworth

    Ben's voice on Stories Under Nails is a raspy buzz-saw, cutting through the listener's safe, pop-music world, reminding us that there are poets out there in the wilderness, their words coming from deep within, their visions scary and relevant. He's the real deal, though I don't think many people will be prepared for him. Like an eery wake-up call from the weird guy that lives in the woods behind your house, this collection of songs brings the world into instant, startling focus.

  • Fantastic
    author: ginny

    Truely enjoyed it. Has an amazing simular sound to a combination of Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams all in one haunting voice.

  • a truly unique gift for music
    author: CHINASKI

    This is real Southern gothic stuff: depressing and disturbing music, with downbeat subjects, complex wordings, and unusual instrumentation. Weaver sings with a wisdom well beyond his years. The guitars often careen and stab, rather than strum or pick, and the sparse accompaniment of bass and drum creates backings that are often soundscapes rather than instrumental arrangements. Ben Weaver has a truly unique gift for music.

  • INUSUALE CD
    author: pino italy

    Second job for Ben Weaver,young protagonist of the new scene folk in USA.Listening binding for this CD,we have the voice of Ben,raucous,meagre,then the songs,desert songs?nocturnal?urbans?but all to the search of the melody.Not they are easy songs,sure do not hiss the morning while the beards is made us.LISTEN WITH ATTENTION

  • Amazing as always
    author: Skott Kautman

    This is the 4th release by ben weaver (that i know of) and is awesome as always. i've seen ben live about half a dozen times, and if you havent seen him live, you should. Another amazing artist from the midwest.

  • Very good keep it up
    author: marcus

    I really enjoyed please keep up the good work.

  • Celebrates the understanding of one's condition
    author: Samantha Balmer

    Stories Under Nails is an album full of eerie chords, slow melodies and a persistent voice. The lyrics are rich in imagery that soothes the panic associated with being down in the dumps, downright celebrating it. Don't worry, it's not a depressing collection of songs, but an album that accepts moods less than ecstatic.

  • author: Tamara Turner, CD Baby

    It's difficult to commit words to a fellow who skirts the edge of genres, who cheats the simplistic response in the brain that wants to pin down and package up. He finds a way to flirt with the desolate, suggest the sparse, worn down remnants of hopes and aspirations- but with his smoky voice, akin to Nick Cave and a tattered, wasted kind of grumble reminiscent of Tom Waits, only bent with a fitting southern drawl, Weaver carves out a pained but rich world of half-beaten, half-expectant, bluesy, rootsy, Americana-laced songs that play the heart strings like a guitar master.

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