{"id":16960,"date":"2021-05-28T17:42:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T22:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=16960"},"modified":"2023-09-03T20:05:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:05:03","slug":"ben-reddell-band-set-to-release-la-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=16960","title":{"rendered":"Ben Reddell Band Set To Release \u00a0\u00a1LA BABY!"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.benreddellband.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles, CA April 27th, 2021\u2014<\/b>Bryan, Texas-born, Kerrville, Texas-raised Ben Reddell has made a name for himself on the LA roots music scene  He has played bass in Leslie and the Badgers, Elijah Ocean\u2019s band, on Rod Melacon\u2019s Southern Gothic<\/i> album, and most recently with GospelbeacH. Reddell has also fronted the Ben Reddell Band for many years, playing gigs about town and releasing an EP in 2012, The Big Dang Deal.<\/i><\/p>\n

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He is also a community man.  If you\u2019ve ever visited the LA roots music scene, he\u2019s the tall mustachioed man with the long dark hair and a cowboy hat and he\u2019s either walking around shaking hands, or manning the boards for the stage, where it\u2019s needed.  A regular friendly fixture and \u2018Mayor\u2019 of the scene, he prides himself on his role of promoter for the indie-roots music show, The Grand Ole Echo and as General Manager of Bedrock L.A. Studios.<\/p>\n

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The band initially went into the studio in December of 2019 to begin recording \u00a1LA Baby! Of course, we all know what happened after that, and the rest of the record had to be finished remotely.  Not the most ideal, but Reddell wanted to get it done. The pandemic also led to the hiatus of Reddell\u2019s roles as musical promoter and studio manager, but it did have an upside.  \u201cIn the absence of my responsibilities, I wanted to focus on putting out my art that I feel is good,\u201d he observes. \u201cBefore I didn\u2019t have the time or ability to put my work out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reddell\u2019s music reflects the small town Texan in him and merges it with his urban life in Los Angeles. \u201cI think my approach to country music is unique,\u201d he describes. \u201cI\u2019m really inspired by all the Texas songwriters that came before me, but I\u2019ve always had a penchant for rock music. So I think my brand of country is different than others that have melded the two genres.\u201d L.A. Record compared his voice to Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, calling it \u201c\u2026as weather-beaten and world-weary as any classic Texan troubadour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reddell says that the tunes on \u00a1LA Baby! come from a celebratory perspective. \u201cWe went into the studio in December, and we were all really happy and in a good place.  I went into it after watching \u2018Once Upon A Time In Hollywood\u2019, which was a celebration of LA, as much as you can celebrate our demon angel of a city.  So the movie kind of filled me with a sense of instilling the tunes with a sense of being in LA, and I feel that comes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Longtime friend and musical partner, Elijah Ocean helped Reddell arrange the music on the album, as well as lending his bass skills.  The upbeat, toe tapping, \u201cMy Baby\u201d opens the record. \u201cI wrote this in the summer of 2019, I was traveling, playing bass for GospelBeacH, and I was the happiest I\u2019ve ever been.  It\u2019s a love song to my lover, but also to L.A. It\u2019s a tribute to easy living and being the highest and happiest one can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cCocaine\u201d is an edgier song with a country-rock vibe. The story song, \u201cTumbleweed\u201d slows it down and the sweet sound of the pedal steel juxtaposes with Reddell\u2019s raspy baritone voice. \u201cThis is one of my oldest songs. I wrote this in my sad Hollywood apartment in 2007. At that time, I was a drunk and a waiter at the Arclight Cinema, but writing this song made me feel like I was more than those things. It\u2019s inclusion on this record means a lot to me, it\u2019s my banner of L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The lyrics and melody on \u201cBar Blues\u201d are reminiscent of a Tom T. Hall or Robert Earl Keen song, while the accordion on \u201cIf You Love Her and You Need Her\u201d and \u201cGood Thing\u201d will have you moving in your seat if you\u2019re not already on the dance floor. \u201cGood Things\u2019 was written when I moved to the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. It\u2019s a reflection of what I would hear in the hills as Norte\u00f1o bands would be playing a party somewhere in the distance.  But it\u2019s also inspired by my youth growing up in south Texas. The kind of boozy Jim Morrison-chorus grounds it even more in the LA legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reddell plays rhythm guitar on \u00a1LA Baby! and is backed by a stellar band of musicians from the L.A. roots music scene.  Along with Ocean (who is one of Reddell\u2019s favorite country songwriters), he has Travis Popichak on drums who he has been playing with since 2004. Reddell met guitar player Joe Bourdet (Whispering Pines, Jonathan Wilson) over a decade ago and keyboardist Jon Nieman plays in GospelBeacH with him. Added to the mix are Matt Pynn (Billy Ray Cyrus, Jaime Wyatt, Ringo Starr) on pedal steel and Jeremy Long (Sam Outlaw, Jason Hawk Harris) on accordion.<\/p>\n

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\u00a1LA Baby! was a long time coming and is a step forward for Reddell.  \u201cMy last EP was released 2012 and back then I was trying to find ways to meld country, R&B, and indie rock into something that would work with the east LA indie scene. This record is more about where I am now.  It\u2019s unapologetic in its country voice, but it\u2019s me now living in LA after 18 years.  This city will eat you whole and spit you out, but if you\u2019re lucky, it doesn\u2019t. I feel like these tunes are a celebration of not letting the demons of this city get you down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis record is about joy and love and feeling free,\u201d he muses. \u201cI think the past year has been beyond hard on all of us.  And this record was started before all of that, when I was extremely happy and free. I think that breathes through these tunes, and I hope it brightens the day of whoever listens to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.benreddellband.com\/ Los Angeles, CA April 27th, 2021\u2014Bryan, Texas-born, Kerrville, Texas-raised Ben Reddell has made a name for himself on the LA roots music scene  He has played bass in Leslie and the Badgers, Elijah Ocean\u2019s band, on Rod Melacon\u2019s Southern Gothic album, and most recently with GospelbeacH. Reddell has also fronted the Ben Reddell Band for many years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t