Name: Bloodline Maintenace
Brand: Ben Harper

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

BRV80

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-09-30

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0810098500326

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

BRC80

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2022-07-22

0810098500333

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Ben Harper

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Chrysalis

Benjamin Charles Harper, professionally known as Ben Harper, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Born on October 28, 1969 in Pomona, California, USA, he has captivated audiences with his soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics. With a career spanning over two decades, Ben's music combines elements of folk, blues, rock, and reggae to create a unique sound that resonates with fans worldwide.
Throughout his musical journey, Ben has released numerous critically acclaimed albums and collaborated with various artists from different genres. His versatility as a musician is evident through his ability to play multiple instruments including the guitar, piano, drums, and harmonica.
In addition to his musical achievements, Ben was married to Laura Dern from 2005 to 2013. This period of his personal life influenced some of his introspective songs that explore themes of love and relationships.

The roots of Chrysalis stretch back to a tiny flat in West London in 1967, when former university social secretaries, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis, linked their flair for managing and booking bands to form the Ellis Wright Agency. After trying to release their bands' records via other companies, they decided to start their own label.

In 1968, they signed a licensing deal with Island Records with the proviso that if their acts achieved an agreed number of hits, they would be awarded a label of their own. Within a year, this tally was reached and Chrysalis Records was born.

Over the years, Chrysalis went through various ownership changes. In 1985, Chris Wright bought out Terry Ellis and later sold the label to EMI in 1991. EMI was then acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 before selling the Parlophone Label Group (including Chrysalis) to Warner Music Group in 2013.

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Ben Harper releases his eagerly anticipated, fiercely personal soulful album, Bloodline Maintenance, via his new deal with Chrysalis Records. The album was preceded by the single “We Need To Talk About It” which, propelled by Harper’s blisteringly funky guitar, defiantly addresses the wounds of slavery through a sharp-edged call-and-response with gospel backing vocals and pounding rhythms augmented by the distinctive sound of the African talking drum.

The new album is a work largely inspired by the loss of a long-time friend and the lingering influence of a mercurial and charismatic father, Bloodline Maintenance sees Harper performing the majority of the instruments on his own, spanning guitar, bass, drums and an eclectic assortment of percussions including a plastic toy snare. His 17th studio LP – and first since 2020’s instrumental Winter is the Lovers –and the first non-instrumental solo album of new songs since 2016. The new album is further fuelled by Harper’s signature lap steel, supercharged through a powerful Dumble amplifier creating a truly unruly tone that Harper describes as “a sort of a merging of Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix.”

Applying the inventiveness of hip-hop to longstanding paradigms of soul, blues and jazz, spinning it all forward into a reconfiguration of a new black Americana, Bloodline Maintenance continues Harper’s long history as one of his generation’s most potent protest singers. Persecuted by local authorities for being a communist, his grandfather moved his family west where their music store, the Folk Music Centre and Museum in Claremont, CA, proved a vital hub in a thriving Southern California folk scene. There Harper learned guitar as a child, playing his first official gig at the age of 12. By the time he was 21, he was touring with blues legend Taj Mahal. The years that followed have seen Harper amass international critical applause and a worldwide fan following, winning three Grammy® Awards (out of seven total nominations) for his own genre-traversing body of work while also producing acclaimed albums by Mavis Staples, Rickie Lee Jones, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Maines, Ziggy Marley, and others. An inveterate collaborator, Harper has also recorded with a diverse span of artists ranging from John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jack Johnson to Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and, most recently, Harry Styles, contributing his signature guitar work to the latter superstar’s chart-topping new album, Harry's House.