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Benji Allen Debut CD Mother Nature, A Cold One And Me
“My music? It’s laid
back. It’s
Texas
.
It’s about family, it’s respectful, catchy and it’s relaxin’.
It’s sincere… there’s nothing fake about the vocals and,
there’s not a lyric that comes out of my mouth that is not meant and
truly believed by me.”- Benji Allen
Down here in
Texas
it’s very nearly an official state law that you have to love God, The
Cowboys, Momma, and Country Music.
If that’s
the rules in the
Lone
Star
State
, Benji’s the most law abiding man in
Texas
.
Growing up in the suburbs of
Dallas
, Benji Allen remembers frequent trips to his grandmother’s house with
nothing to do but listen to the radio.
“We drove back and forth to her house in
East Texas
all the time, and it was country music the whole way there and back,”
says Allen. “My parents
hosted lots of parties when I was growing up, and that’s all they played
and listened to was country.”
Like a long list of other
Texas
boys before him including Willie Nelson,
George
Strait
, Tracy Byrd and Mark Chestnut, Benji seemed destined for life as a
country music singer.
“Except for a couple of guitar playin’ uncles, I didn’t really
have a musical family,” Benji says.
“What I did have were parents that played the music, and didn’t
mind when I sang along to the music. They
encouraged me a lot to sing, especially my mother.”
Sing-along favorites for young Benji ran the gamut from country
legends like George Jones and Merle Haggard to
Alabama
and one pint-sized lady that most manly music artists wouldn’t really
admit to singing along with.
“Brenda Lee- remember her? She did this Christmas song I really
loved to sing to,” says Benji. “My
voice hadn’t changed yet, and I was a high soprano, so I sounded better
singing the girl parts in country music back then”, he laughs.
Luckily for Benji the magical voice-deepening time of puberty came
along, and his voice matured right along with the rest of him.
From the first moment Benji sang in a band in front of a crowd, he
knew that singing was what he was meant to do.
“It’s been a long, hard, slow
road”, says Benji. “Back
in the earlier years, I sang a lot at the Johnnie High Review.
Lots of folks in this business will promise you lots of things, but
as the old saying goes, talk is cheap.”
At one point in Benji’s career, he was offered a position in
Branson
,
Missouri-
as a Tim McGraw impersonator. “Can’t
say I didn’t consider it, but my convictions wouldn’t let me try to be
someone I wasn’t. I’m me-
plain and simple,” Benji says.
“ I believe that if something’s meant to be, it’ll happen,”
Benji says seriously. With
Benji’s debut cd- Mother Nature, A
Cold One And Me- it seems as if those things are finally beginning to
happen for him. “The wheels
that spun so slow for so many years are finally starting to roll.
It took a lot of grease, though, to get ‘em rolling along,”
Benji chuckles. Benji believes
that all the years of doing what he loves has only made him the singer and
man he is today. “I don’t
know if I’d be this prepared or confident about taking it to the next
level, if it hadn’t been for all the years of being on stage in front of
folks.”
The spinning wheels have enabled Benji to get a video
produced for his tune Beer Joint
Baby, the album’s first track.
“The neatest thing about that video was getting to work with
Tommy Alverson”, Benji says. “I’ve
always loved Tommy’s music and all he does for
Texas
artists. Getting to meet and
become friends with someone you have looked up to for so long is sweet!”
In March 2008, Benji opened and closed for Moe Bandy in
Fort Worth
. “It’s such an honor to
be invited to stand up on the same stage that Moe Bandy performs on!
These are the guys I grew up listening to and singing along
with,” says Benji.
The only other regret Benji has about all the good
things happening right now is that fact that his mother isn’t here to
see and share it with him. “My
mom, Betty, passed back in ’99. She
was, by far, my biggest supporter an my biggest fan, and we were very
close. She passed suddenly and
it was one of those deals where it happened so fast, I wasn’t there when
it happened.” Betty’s sudden illness progressed from her simply not
feeling well one night, to literally fighting for her life on a respirator
within hours. She’d had a
brain hemorrhage and was on life support before she passed.
“Every time I get on stage, a part of me is, you know, singing to
her- playing for my momma and trying to make her proud.”
Benji’s other inspirations in life, you ask? Their names are Dylin
and Graham. Benji’s boys-
ages one and three- “are awesome,” Benji confides.
“Dylin is so fun at only a year old.
Graham was born blind, and he’s really into music and sounds.
He loves cd’s and his stereo.
I sing to he and Dylin all the time, and that’s helped me…
I get to certain points in a song, or a show and I can literally
close my eyes and pretend like I am singing to my boys.
Both boys are amazing, and with Graham, he’s right there next to
my heart when I sing.”
Be sure to catch Benji Allen performing in the
Texas
and regional country music circuit soon.
When you do, close your eyes for a few moments, and
experience the music the way Graham does, with your whole body, mind and
soul.
“My music, and the live show… to anybody that would wanna feel a
part of something special, there’s no show about it, it’s all heartfelt.” |
