Third Man Records is proud to announce the first new LP in almost seven years from Brendan Benson. DEAR LIFE arrives via Third Man Records on Friday, April 24. Pre-order HERE and pre-save the album HERE.
Benson’s seventh solo album and first full-length release via Third Man, DEAR LIFE is heralded by the rhapsodic first single, “Good To Be Alive,” streaming now via its official video and on all DSPs.
“’Good To Be Alive’ is kind of weird, to be honest,” Benson says, “But that’s what I’m most excited about. It says a lot about this record, it’s almost got a split personality or something. It’s totally bizarre – I still sit back and listen to it, thinking, that’s so cool! It’s like somebody else played it, it’s not the same old me.”
LISTEN TO “GOOD TO BE ALIVE”
Benson finds himself in an enviable spot as he enters the third decade of a remarkably creative, consistently idiosyncratic career – an accomplished frontman, musician, songwriter, producer, band member, husband, and dad. DEAR LIFE marks this consummate polymath’s most inventive and upbeat work thus far, an 11-track song cycle about life, love, family, fatherhood, and the pure joy of making music. Produced and almost entirely performed by Benson at his own Readymade Studio in Nashville, the album sees the Michigan-born, Nashville-based artist – and co-founder, with Jack White, of The Raconteurs – reveling in a more modernist approach than ever before, fueled by a heady brew of cannabis, hip-hop, and a newly discovered interest in software drum programming. The result is an untapped playfulness that elevates expertly crafted songs like the future funk-fueled opener, “I Can If You Want Me To,” and the ecstatic “Richest Man Alive” with voluble arrangements, elastic grooves, and incandescent power. Imbued with revitalized ambition and confidence, DEAR LIFE is Brendan Benson at his very best.
“There's something about this record,” Benson says. “A friend of mine called it ‘life-affirming.’ I thought it was a joke at first but then realized, well, it’s about life and death for sure. I don’t know if that’s positive or optimistic or whatever, but that's what's going on with me.”
Benson will celebrate DEAR LIFE with a much-anticipated North American headline tour. The dates begin April 26 at Washington, DC’s U Street Music Hall and then continue into mid-May. Additional dates will be announced soon. For updates and information, please visit www.brendanbenson.com.
BRENDAN BENSON
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2020
APRIL
26 – Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall
28 – Boston, MA – Great Scott
29 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
30 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
MAY
4 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
5 – Detroit, MI – The Loving Touch
6 – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle
7 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
11 - Los Angeles CA - The Roxy Theatre
12 - San Francisco CA - The Chapel
14 – Portland, OR – Holocene
15 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
Beginning with 1996’s now-classic debut, ONE MISSISSIPPI – recently reissued by Third Man in its first-ever vinyl pressing and available now – and its masterful 2002 follow-up, LAPALCO, the Michigan-born, Nashville-based Benson has always infused classic craftsmanship with contemporary invention.
Along with his own critically acclaimed canon, Benson is of course co-founder – with Jack White, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler – of The Raconteurs. The band first convened in 2006, winning worldwide acclaim, GRAMMY® Award nominations, and a chart-topping smash single in “Steady As She Goes,” with their now-classic debut album, BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS. The Raconteurs returned two short years later with 2008’s CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY. Like its predecessor, the LP proved a popular and critical phenomenon, earning the GRAMMY® Award for “Best Engineered Non-Classical Album” as well as a nomination as “Best Rock Album.” After more than a decade, The Raconteurs finally returned to action in 2019 with their critically acclaimed, chart-topping third LP, HELP US STRANGER, highlighted in part by songs Benson had initially considered for his own LP, “Only Child” and “Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying).” The Raconteurs’ epic 2019 world tour proved equally successful, playing to ecstatic sold-out houses from Nashville to New Zealand and all points in-between.
As if all that weren’t enough, Benson is an in-demand producer (Robyn Hitchcock, Young The Giant, Trapper Schoepp, The Greenhornes) and collaborative songwriter, with a CV that includes partnerships with Jake Bugg, Iain Archer (Snow Patrol), and The Kooks’ Luke Pritchard, among others.
