BEN & ELLEN HARPER
''CHILDHOOD HOME''
MAY 6 2014
33:38
1 /A House Is a Home
Ben Harper/2:42
2 /City of Dreams
Ellen Harper/3:41
3 /Born to Love You
Ben Harper/3:30
4 /Heavyhearted World
Ben Harper /2:56
5 /Farmer's Daughter
Ellen Harper /3:14
6 /Memories of Gold
Ben Harper/3:47
7 /Altar of Love
Ellen Harper/3:20
8 /Break Your Heart
Ellen Harper/3:40
9 /Learn It All Again Tomorrow
Ben Harper/3:02
10 /How Could We Not Believe
Ben Harper/3:46
Ben Harper /Autoharp, Dulcimer, Guitar, Producer, Slide Guitar, Vocals
Ellen Harper /Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
Jesse Ingalls /Bass (Upright), Keyboards, Producer
Jason Mozersky /Guitar, Producer
Jimmy Paxson /Drums, Producer
Review
By Thom Jurek
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ben Harper began his career with the solo acoustic debut Welcome to the Cruel World. Childhood Home takes Harper back to his roots -- literally: he recorded it in collaboration with his mother, Ellen Harper. There isn't an electric instrument on this ten-song set, which features six new tunes by him and four by her. There are a trio of other players who help out on piano, guitar, and upright bass. Ellen's parents (both musicians) founded the Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California, over 50 years ago; she still works there. As a single mom she worked while Harper played around with various instruments. The music here centers on songs of home and the myriad experiences that revolve around it, some of them quite painful. Ben's country-folk song "A House Is a Home" (which recalls the melody of "Love Is a Rose") looks at the hearth as the centerpiece of personal history. Ellen's "City of Dreams" reflects on the city where she grew up that has disappeared; the victim of suburban sprawl. Ben's "Born to Love You" is a waltz sung as a duet, accompanied by quietly shuffling drums and piano. Here, "home" is the beloved: I love you/I live you…." On her "Farmer's Daughter," a minor-key country-blues, Ellen plays banjo and Ben lays out Weissenborn slide and flatpicked acoustic fills. Their layered backing vocals are haunting. Her "Altar of Love" is a country-gospel waltz. Its poetry is simple, direct, yet expert; she distills the heart-wrenching experience of marrying, motherhood, and sacrifice in a fable that contains a tragic circular twist of fate. Her deeply moving "Break Your Heart," with its subtle R&B tinge, is the finest song here. Ben's "Memories of Gold" reveals the growth in his own writing. Here, country, soul, and folk-blues all commingle in a cut-time waltz. His world-weary vocals offer wisdom gained through lived experience. The ghostly, holistic gospel in his closer, "How Could We Not Believe," is a hymn of beauty and resolve, with the pair's voices blending perfectly amid strummed autoharp, dulcimer, and guitars. Childhood Home is, in essence, timeless. It brims with quiet conviction about the blood and spiritual ties that bind, an indestructible place in the heart, and offers proof that folk music can indeed be "soul" music.
Biography
by MacKenzie Wilson
Combining funky, groove-laden soul with handcrafted acoustic folk-rock, Ben Harper enjoyed cult status during the course of the '90s before gaining wider attention toward the decade's end. As a young artist, he drew his influences from classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, guitar slingers, and jam bands like Blues Traveler and Phish, which meant he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Despite finding commercial success with the radio single "Steal My Kisses" in 2000, Harper continued to explore different (and often challenging) musical textures during the 21st century, enjoying a solid fan base at home and a considerable amount of fame in Europe, where was named 2003's Artist of the Year by the French branch of Rolling Stone. 
A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. He started playing guitar as a child and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he focused heavily on the acoustic slide guitar, which eventually became his signature instrument. Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992 after maintaining a steady schedule of shows in the L.A. area; two years later, he released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, to positive reviews. 
Released in 1995, the politically heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. It was also the songwriter's first record to later reach gold status. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live also introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's longstanding backup band. the Innocent Criminals -- bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- helped solidify Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity over the years to come. 
Harper's career gained momentum during 1998 and 1999. One of his most successful albums to date, 1999's Burn to Shine, blended his fondness of '20s jazz compositions with urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's annual summer trek in 2000. The following spring, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double-disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye. 
Harper dove into worldbeat on his fifth studio effort, Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. He toured through Europe the following year with the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the two acts entered Capitol Records' basement studios after the tour's commencement to lay down ten tracks together. The resulting collaborative album (issued under the names of both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama), There Will Be a Light, was released in September 2004, followed by the concert CD/DVD package Live at the Apollo in 2005. 
Eager to release more material, Harper reconvened the Innocent Criminals and issued the double album Both Sides of the Gun in March 2006. The album reached number seven on the Billboard album charts and rose to number one in Australia. While touring in support of the record, Harper and company began playing a new slew of songs during their evening soundchecks, eventually decamping to Paris and recording the new material within one week. This resulted in two records -- Lifeline and Live at Twist and Shout Records -- both of which were issued in 2007. For his 2009 album, White Lies for Dark Times, Harper recorded with the band Relentless7, the members of whom had previously worked with Harper on the track "Serve Your Soul" from Both Sides of the Gun. Harper & the Relentless7 recorded Live from the Montreal International Jazz Festival in July 2009 and released the album early the following year. Afterwards, Harper began working on his first solo album in years, using Jackson Browne's basement as a recording studio and collaborating with Ringo Starr on two tracks. The album's first single, "Rock n' Roll Is Free," was released during the early spring of 2011, followed two months later by the full-length Give Till It's Gone, and in 2012 by the career retrospective By My Side. Harper then moved over to Stax and teamed with blues legend Charlie Musselwhite for 2013's collaboratively released Get Up!
''CHILDHOOD HOME''
MAY 6 2014
33:38
1 /A House Is a Home
Ben Harper/2:42
2 /City of Dreams
Ellen Harper/3:41
3 /Born to Love You
Ben Harper/3:30
4 /Heavyhearted World
Ben Harper /2:56
5 /Farmer's Daughter
Ellen Harper /3:14
6 /Memories of Gold
Ben Harper/3:47
7 /Altar of Love
Ellen Harper/3:20
8 /Break Your Heart
Ellen Harper/3:40
9 /Learn It All Again Tomorrow
Ben Harper/3:02
10 /How Could We Not Believe
Ben Harper/3:46
Ben Harper /Autoharp, Dulcimer, Guitar, Producer, Slide Guitar, Vocals
Ellen Harper /Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
Jesse Ingalls /Bass (Upright), Keyboards, Producer
Jason Mozersky /Guitar, Producer
Jimmy Paxson /Drums, Producer
Review
By Thom Jurek
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ben Harper began his career with the solo acoustic debut Welcome to the Cruel World. Childhood Home takes Harper back to his roots -- literally: he recorded it in collaboration with his mother, Ellen Harper. There isn't an electric instrument on this ten-song set, which features six new tunes by him and four by her. There are a trio of other players who help out on piano, guitar, and upright bass. Ellen's parents (both musicians) founded the Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California, over 50 years ago; she still works there. As a single mom she worked while Harper played around with various instruments. The music here centers on songs of home and the myriad experiences that revolve around it, some of them quite painful. Ben's country-folk song "A House Is a Home" (which recalls the melody of "Love Is a Rose") looks at the hearth as the centerpiece of personal history. Ellen's "City of Dreams" reflects on the city where she grew up that has disappeared; the victim of suburban sprawl. Ben's "Born to Love You" is a waltz sung as a duet, accompanied by quietly shuffling drums and piano. Here, "home" is the beloved: I love you/I live you…." On her "Farmer's Daughter," a minor-key country-blues, Ellen plays banjo and Ben lays out Weissenborn slide and flatpicked acoustic fills. Their layered backing vocals are haunting. Her "Altar of Love" is a country-gospel waltz. Its poetry is simple, direct, yet expert; she distills the heart-wrenching experience of marrying, motherhood, and sacrifice in a fable that contains a tragic circular twist of fate. Her deeply moving "Break Your Heart," with its subtle R&B tinge, is the finest song here. Ben's "Memories of Gold" reveals the growth in his own writing. Here, country, soul, and folk-blues all commingle in a cut-time waltz. His world-weary vocals offer wisdom gained through lived experience. The ghostly, holistic gospel in his closer, "How Could We Not Believe," is a hymn of beauty and resolve, with the pair's voices blending perfectly amid strummed autoharp, dulcimer, and guitars. Childhood Home is, in essence, timeless. It brims with quiet conviction about the blood and spiritual ties that bind, an indestructible place in the heart, and offers proof that folk music can indeed be "soul" music.
Biography
by MacKenzie Wilson
Combining funky, groove-laden soul with handcrafted acoustic folk-rock, Ben Harper enjoyed cult status during the course of the '90s before gaining wider attention toward the decade's end. As a young artist, he drew his influences from classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, guitar slingers, and jam bands like Blues Traveler and Phish, which meant he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Despite finding commercial success with the radio single "Steal My Kisses" in 2000, Harper continued to explore different (and often challenging) musical textures during the 21st century, enjoying a solid fan base at home and a considerable amount of fame in Europe, where was named 2003's Artist of the Year by the French branch of Rolling Stone.
A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. He started playing guitar as a child and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he focused heavily on the acoustic slide guitar, which eventually became his signature instrument. Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992 after maintaining a steady schedule of shows in the L.A. area; two years later, he released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, to positive reviews.
Released in 1995, the politically heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. It was also the songwriter's first record to later reach gold status. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live also introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's longstanding backup band. the Innocent Criminals -- bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- helped solidify Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity over the years to come.
Harper's career gained momentum during 1998 and 1999. One of his most successful albums to date, 1999's Burn to Shine, blended his fondness of '20s jazz compositions with urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's annual summer trek in 2000. The following spring, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double-disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye.
Harper dove into worldbeat on his fifth studio effort, Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. He toured through Europe the following year with the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the two acts entered Capitol Records' basement studios after the tour's commencement to lay down ten tracks together. The resulting collaborative album (issued under the names of both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama), There Will Be a Light, was released in September 2004, followed by the concert CD/DVD package Live at the Apollo in 2005.
Eager to release more material, Harper reconvened the Innocent Criminals and issued the double album Both Sides of the Gun in March 2006. The album reached number seven on the Billboard album charts and rose to number one in Australia. While touring in support of the record, Harper and company began playing a new slew of songs during their evening soundchecks, eventually decamping to Paris and recording the new material within one week. This resulted in two records -- Lifeline and Live at Twist and Shout Records -- both of which were issued in 2007. For his 2009 album, White Lies for Dark Times, Harper recorded with the band Relentless7, the members of whom had previously worked with Harper on the track "Serve Your Soul" from Both Sides of the Gun. Harper & the Relentless7 recorded Live from the Montreal International Jazz Festival in July 2009 and released the album early the following year. Afterwards, Harper began working on his first solo album in years, using Jackson Browne's basement as a recording studio and collaborating with Ringo Starr on two tracks. The album's first single, "Rock n' Roll Is Free," was released during the early spring of 2011, followed two months later by the full-length Give Till It's Gone, and in 2012 by the career retrospective By My Side. Harper then moved over to Stax and teamed with blues legend Charlie Musselwhite for 2013's collaboratively released Get Up!
Harper literally went back to his roots on his next offering. He teamed with his mother, Ellen Harper, a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in her own right, and the director of The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California -- which his grandparents founded -- for the recording Childhood Home. Ellen wrote four tunes on the set while Ben wrote six, and they performed together throughout. The set was issued by Concord in May of 2014.
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