Ben Musser (Benyaro)

Ben Musser album release show at Club Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA It took two decades of acclaimed songwriting for Ben Musser to make his solo debut. As the frontman behind projects like Benyaro, he spent years in collaborative mode, stretching the limits of American roots music while teaming up with other musicians. Benyaro earned its share of accolades, playing everywhere from SXSW to the Sundance Film Festival. Even so, Musser — who juggled multiple instruments onstage, singing and strumming his acoustic guitar while simultaneously playing kick drum, hi-hat, and shaker with his feet — couldn't help but feel like something else loomed just out of sight, waiting to take shape. He turns a new page with Sentimental Fever. It's more than the first album to be released under his own name; it's also the singular work of a one-man band, with Musser writing every song, playing every instrument, and sharing co-production duties with Scott Mathews (The Beach Boys, Van Morrison, Roy Orbison). Released during an era of digital automation, Sentimental Fever is a classic album for the modern age, its 11 tracks rooted in sharp song craft, lushly-layered organic arrangements, and the sweat equity of a self-sufficient songwriter who's never defined his abilities — or his ambitions — so clearly before. "With this album, I’m finally beginning to realize my potential as a singer/songwriter who can write compelling songs and perform all the parts I have in my head," says Musser, who wrote Sentimental Fever at home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and recorded it at Mathews' studio in Mill Valley, California. "It’s an achievement that’s been a long time in the making — the truest embodiment of myself, musically and artistically, to date." After logging time in musical epicenters like Nashville, Austin, and New York City, Musser moved to Jackson Hole during the late 2000s. The beauty of the Wyoming mountains was stunning, but he missed the artistic inspiration that had surrounded him back ea