The thing about Ben Folds is there’s too much to say and then not enough to say. His new album, So There, comes out on Friday, September 11, and he will be doing a signing and Q&A at Grimey’s Too to support it on that same day. In order to ensure access, you must pre-order the album at Grimey’s! Get over there, and don’t miss your opportunity to ask all the questions…
Folds has been found everywhere (The Sing Off, Bonnaroo, Save Music Row, The Nashville Symphony, The Nashville Ballet…) and nowhere (hiding in his house, in the ethers, in RCA Studio A’s equipment closet?). Ben Folds is a foundation of old Nashville. He grew from a college radio darling as front man of Ben Folds Five to touring phenom to composer/TV star/activist. His songs like “Song for the Dumped,” “Brick,” “Underground,” and “The Luckiest” are indelible in young adult minds, but Folds became so much more than his hits. He is a piano-playing genius, a pop culture music expert, and an artist who made piano rock kick-ass again. What made the late 90s and early 00s Nashville music scene so delightful and friendly (think old stuff from Gabe Dixon, Josh Rouse, and Kyle Andrews to name a few) is also what made Folds. He is the symbol of the new Nashville too, in the fact that he stood in front of the proverbial bull dozer in protection of Music Row and our history, while reinventing the RCA Studio A space as his Grand Victor Sound studio to make this collaborative and modern album out of the near rubble.
Ben Fold’s new project So There is with yMusic, an intricately installed group of instrument players from New York City. The rest of the album is his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with The Nashville Symphony, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero. The collaborative album will be available September 11 on New West Records, his new label, and was recorded all over the country: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and his own Nashville studio Grand Victor Sound (RCA Studio A). The 8 new songs featuring yMusic include the recently dropped single, “Capable of Anything,” a swirling pep talk to a fledgling fearing flight. This new music combines the beautiful mind of Ben Folds with the expanded musical range of an orchestral power posse. So There shows that Folds’ music continues to mutate and grow as the changeling it has always been. This animal is power and magic – the enigma of true talent plus creative excellence. So all of you are joining me at Ben Folds’ Grimey’s Too in-store appearance to see inside a world of symphonic fascination, right? There’s no mention of a performance during the in-store, but you will definitely get to catch him at Live On The Green for FREE on September 12!
We recently wrote this piece about his new single off So There, called “Phone in a Pool,” which you can stream by clicking the link above. His other single pre-release for the gorgeous new album is “Capable of Anything,” which is available to stream below.
