REVIEW: Ben Torbett “Bluer Side”

Ben Torbett – Bluer Side

Ben Torbett has a brand new country album Bluer Side with heartaches, steel guitars and some painful lyrics and self-awareness sung and played by Ben on acoustic guitar. There’s oodles of melodious playing by Mark Spencer (Son Volt) and a crack rhythm section that has played with Bruce Springsteen and the Silos. Hailing from North Georgia, Ben is at ease fashioning both songs that sound like classic country fare, and also with blasting, rootsy rockin’ numbers, and all of them with confessional aspects and degrees of honesty.

“A Wonderful Day For a Heartache” is a honky tonk affair, a description of how it’s been a perfect day until you arrived home and found the note saying she’s gone. “All that’s left to say since you took your love away is what a wonderful day for a heartache.” Uptempo with country guitar tones.

“Bought the Farm” is a classic sounding: “you were smoking on the porch swing when I got home today, and every time you spoke to me you turned and looked away / I knew right then that this was when our love had bought the farm.” This is a tongue in cheek response to reading the signs, when you can smell the fresh cut grass and she can’t look at your anymore.

“Hiawassee” features Cliff Westfall on guest vocals and the pedal steel melodies are striking as Ben sings bout the long stretch of highway and the possibility of watching a sunset after the fair, “if we’re lucky we’ll have some cake, I won’t care, I’ll be there in Hiawassee.”  On “Cold” the album really heats up and the bass lines carry the wretchedness sorrow at a driving pace: “hey before you go, you ought to know I ain’t mad and I won’t forget the good times we had. What you saw in him I’ll never understand. It’s gonna be cold, cold, cold all alone, lone, lone.” Electric guitar solos convey the heavy heartedness and convert.

The title track is about imagery that speaks of beaches, weddings while the lyrical protagonist is just trying to stop thinking of washed up things and lovers that got away. The pedal steel winds between beachy and countrified, and we can relate. “I don’t think your heart can take the stories, like drinking and thinking with the man I used to be, when I hear those desperate songs they work on me.” Good choice for the album title – it’s a vulnerable song with a depth of honesty.

“I’m Gone” is a heavier number with a dose of truth about how deeply important it is to get away all alone. “I got a line, I got a pole, and I’m going someplace that no one knows. / I just slipped away, make no mistake, I just had to get away from you, whatever it takes for me to find myself.” This song showcases Ben’s ability to write with integrity about what’s important as a human being.

This album is called Bluer Side for a reason, it’s heartaches, wretchedness, blue sorrow, self awareness and memories, and all along the music is just fine with electric riffs, pedal steel, electric guitar melodies. The album starts out more classic countrified, and then it shifts into more rootsy rock ‘n roll. Start the year off right and give it a listen.

Musicians on the album are Ben Torbett on vocals and acoustic guitar; Mark Spencer on electric guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, and keys; Jeremy Chatzky (Bruce Springsteen) on bass; Konrad Meissner (The Silos) on drums; and Cliff Westfall as featured vocal on “Hiawassee.”

All songs were written by Ben Torbett. It was produced, engineered and mixed by Mark Spencer at Tape Kitchen Studios in Brooklyn, NY. It was mastered by Jason NeSmith at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA.

Find the music here on BandCamp: https://bentorbett.bandcamp.com/album/bluer-side