Ben Carroll: What's News

Best wishes to all! The six week US summer tour dates are announced in the tour section. Please feel free to check the website now and then during the summer, as dates and details may be added.

10% To The Kids

Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with the kids at Balashram, a residential school in the state of Orissa, India. They are orphans and children from single parent families in a region of severe poverty (60%). A highlight was playing guitar with them as they sang many time-loved Christmas carols from the West during their Christmas Pageant. They are precious!

10% of the show proceeds from this tour will go to them. If you want to give more directly right now, and learn more, you can go to this link.

Basically, after the super cyclone that devastated the coastal region of the state of Orissa, more than 3.3 million children were affected, according to UNICEF; 48,000 people died and many children were left without parents overnight. “In an effort to provide for the health and education of these children, in 2004 Hariharananda Balashram was founded. The goal is to provide the children with a solid foundation for the future. The Balashram is spread over twelve acres in the village of Pattamundai and has facilities to provide for the children’s educational, physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs. There are science rooms, library, sports rooms, playgrounds, and much more to facilitate their all-round development.” The reality of it all is heavy on the one hand, but the beauty, appreciativeness and brilliance of these kids is a pure joy to behold. Please kindly help if you can. Also, as this is a rural, impoverished part of India, what we think of in the US or in the West in general as a little amount, truly goes a long way there ($360 to sponsor one child for one year).

Looking forward to seeing and playing for you! Thank you

At your service,

Ben

Featured performer for the month of June on the Concerts In Your Home site! Still booking summer tour mid-July til fall (at points more or less listed below). If you are interested in hosting a show, please get in touch. Thank you

Now booking a summer tour, mid-July and August. Which leads me to this: Ever heard of a... HOUSE CONCERT? (<---This site has an info-video and helpful tips all about it, as well as an artist profile of yours truly, with a live video performance for television...) Some of you certainly have heard of a house concert, have been to one, or even played one. You experience the music in a personal and memorable way, and hosting one is often very rewarding for those and more reasons, for you and your friends. Especially if you live in the NY tri-state area, or in any of the below cities, and would like to host a house concert (especially this summer), please write me, talk to me. (Also if you have friends/family that might be interested, please let them know--you just may be instrumental in the joy of others...) Yes, you can do it in NYC too, some fans already have! And it went really well, on all levels. P.S. If you know of OTHER PERFORMANCE VENUES you can personally vouch for/recommend in the below cities, it's hugely appreciated as well...Thank you for reading, thank you for playing a part.

Now booking a summer tour, mid-July and August, here:

Allentown, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, PA...Wheeling, WV...Columbus, Springfield, OH...Indianapolis, Terre Haute, IN...Belleville, IL...St. Louis, Springfield, Joplin, MO...Tulsa, Oklahoma City, OK...Amarillo, TX...Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque, NM...Fort Smith, Little Rock, AR...Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Knoxville, TN...Asheville, NC...Roanoke, Charlottesville, VA...Wilmington, DE

…And any points more or less in between…

I did an in-studio session of new songs and an interview at Shelter Island Sound studios a few weeks back in manhattan. Was great! www.breakthruradio.com has the show on its BTR Live Studio program with host Maia Macdonald.

I recently played drums in the video for Whitney Houston’s new single “Million Dollar Bill”, it’s a breezy, feelgood song on her upcoming release and sure to delight Whitney’s fans! I love playing drums! ...Record's released this week, so keep an eye out for the video!

Hi and happy spring to you. I was lucky enough and honored to share the stage with my talented friend, singer-songwriter-guitarist Colin McGrath earlier this month on Acoustic Long Island, the #1 acoustic podcast on iTunes with listenership around the globe. It was filmed and recorded live in front of a truly wonderful audience, in a mansion in St. James, NY (Long Island). You can subscribe free now on iTunes and hear/see the show, we also did one of my songs in there, and one that Colin and I wrote together.

I'll be doing Midwest and Southeast tours this summer and fall...please see details as they materialize on the tour calendar. Thanks and warm wishes.

"Wake", a new film from Pier's End Productions, has two of Ben's songs: "In My Land" and "Line Of Love". Click here for info on the opening premiere in Tribeca this August: http://www.wakefilm.com/wakeinvite.html

Please listen to NPR station WVIA this Tuesday, June 10 at 9:00 PM. Listen live on the web at http://www.wvia.org or on your radio at 89.9 FM.

It's a half hour of new songs performed by yours truly with dad Jon Carroll accompanying, plus an interview with host George Graham. This was recorded in late April. Enjoy!

Thanks,
Ben

BMI New York invited me to join their Spring 2008 Advanced Writers Workshop. Can't seem to find anything witty to put down about that, so I'll just say I'm honored and happy to be back in good company. Looking forward to more fun and work with others.

Hey guys. Since January, Real Thing has been added to the playlists and aired live on 50+ FM and satellite radio stations around the US, Canada and Germany. It holds steady at #1 on the charts on WDPS in Dayton, OH for five weeks, and #10 on WVIA in Pittston, PA for two weeks. Thanks for listening!

Yours,
Ben

I wanted to take a moment to stop business as usual and talk a little about some recent travels, like people do.

LONDON

I used to live in London in 1999. First I shared a flat in Marble Arch with a couple of very different guys from L.A., and later on I had my own studio apartment for a few months. The window looked out onto scaffolding, which acted as a means for someone to creep in, burgle my cheap stereo speakers, fitted baseball cap and leather jacket, leaving me with just my pans, bicycle and alarm clock. So last time I was in London I hung out with actors and clothed petty thieves.

This past January I was happy to return. I was trolling Balham in South London for scenery and a sense of place, then mosied back into the Bedford for my show and ran into a friend from Wisconsin, who now lives in Alaska, who just happened to be sitting there on my way back to the stage. Another highlight was visiting some dear friends by Norwich and the North Sea, and busking (for free because it’s more tasteful) in Camden. Taking it to the streets is a good thing to do, but I also subconsciously dared someone to walk up to me with their busted vacuum cleaner for me to repair (like in “Once”, though I’m pretty sure that was in Dublin). Virgin Atlantic is a boss airline, if you must go by skies (must?). I’d like to note someone stole my cell phone while I was there and ran up a $900 bill (I didn’t notice until days later that the phone was gone), but as I did not have to pay that bill, all’s I want back is my leather jacket. Please.

I love England. I love the tube, tea, civility, literacy, the refined fashion in which everyone insults the weather. I love how most people abroad know more about my country than me thus making me even more humbly aghast at myself, and mostly I love the music of how they speak there, from the barkeep to the classical violinist.

I wrote a new song while I was there called “Sorry”.


MEMPHIS/BIRMINGHAM

My dad and I set out from Virginia as the Carrolls duo, to play shows in Memphis as part of the Folk Alliance Conference; from there we drove to Birmingham for a house concert, and then hauled it back to Virginia. In the 3 or so I years I’ve had my driver’s license I’ve never once been pulled over, and not for lack of driving. But 1 hour behind the wheel in Tennessee while the old man takes a nap, and here come the flashing blue lights. Humiliating. Like I was 8 years old. Thankfully I was let off with a warning to allow more following distance (try that in Brooklyn).

A dynamite landmark in Memphis to be sought out is the Center for Southern Folklore. This is a live music venue and café downtown that is a virtual shrine to American Folk Art and cultural heritage. Long live our roots!

While it’s creepy and depressing that Birmingham can be 60 degrees in February, I still enjoyed it. I also saw ravens steal a woodpecker’s chicks while the woodpecker…well, mourned. There’s a song for you.

Yours always,
Ben

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you know, the show this Wednesday at The Bedford in London is being filmed and streamed live online. You can watch anywhere in the world that has high speed connection, which I think is really something.

Watch here: www.whereitsat.tv/bblive.html
Music starts at 21:00 (9 p.m.) London time on Wednesday night. That's 10 p.m. in Amsterdam, 4 p.m. in New York (tea time), 1 p.m. in Los Angeles (lunch time, maybe).

Thanks, be good,
Ben

If you still like buying your music in record shops (we do), you can roll out to HMV stores in London now and get Real Thing.

Happy holidays!

The new album Real Thing is out now. Go to the "Buy" page on this site to pick up your copy and read a bit about it. We will also be selling it at upcoming shows. You can listen to all songs and read all lyrics right now when you go to the "Listen To Music" page (right-hand side menu on your screen).

The official release for UK record stores is November 1, and it will be for sale on iTunes shortly. We hope it makes your life a little better.

Love and thanks,
Ben

The new site has some bones showing but a little patience please, and welcome!

The new album is done too and will be out in stores October 2007 on Blue Cloud Records in the UK (and on the web for everyone). I'm very lucky and grateful to have worked with everyone that I have, at every step of the way, especially with my dad. We'll be sending word of when and how to buy the record when it's ready, and of upcoming shows.

If you're not on the mailing list, please sign up on the website and we will be connected and it will be good.

Love and music,
Ben