Daily Discovery: Ben Fields, "Worry"

Videos by American Songwriter

Ben Fields brings a style of introspective songwriting pioneered by artists like Nick Drake and Van Morrison. A stylistic homogeny of Harry Nilsson, The Beatles, Curtis Mayfield, and Lowell George gives his upcoming debut album, Extraordinary Light, a sound that defined an era. The album was released in June, and you can check out his tour dates here.

ARTIST: Ben Fields

SONG: Worry

BIRTHDATE: All Saints Day, in a year of the Monkey

HOMETOWN: Rochester, NY

CURRENT LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY

AMBITIONS: Write songs that outlive me by 100 lifetimes (hard to measure)

TURN-OFFS: Huge egos, bad music poetry and art, even worse – faking liking good art to seem clever

TURN-ONS: Faking liking bad art to seem clever, staring, riding the subway with strangers… And staring at them.

DREAM GIG: The one that Zimmerman cat stretched out on over the last few decades

FAVORITE LYRIC: Too hard… I actually don’t have a favorite – there is so much amazing poetry floating around… For the sake of it ‘she said, I know what it’s like to be dead’

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: My cousin Jason. He’s a maniac in the good way.

SONG I WISH I WROTE: Neil Young’s Don’t Let It Bring You Down – I lose it every time I hear that song… The sentiment hits the music like a train into a building.

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Like a dinner party, or over the course of a week? Dylan Thomas, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marilyn Monroe, Sylvia Plath, and Peter Doig

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Radiohead a couple years ago – they’re the Beatles of today.

I WROTE THIS SONG: Worry