Ben Graves is a

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from

Martin, Tennessee Martin is a city in Weakley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 11,473 according to the 2010 census. The city is the home of the University of Tennessee at Martin. History Martin is named for Captain William Martin. William ...

, he was the lead singer in a high school band whose other members (Carl Bell and Jeff Abercrombie) would become the hard rock outfit

Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

. He attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

(B.A., Music, 1993),

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

(1991–92, 1993), and

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

(M.A., Jazz Studies, 1996) and moved to San Francisco, where he lived from 1996 to 2003, working with Norah Jones sidemen Lee Alexander and Rob Burger, as well as current The Decemberists members Jenny Conlee and Nate Query. In 2003, he moved to Nashville Tennessee, where he worked as a sideman with country artists

Rebecca Lynn Howard Rebecca Lynn Howard (born April 24, 1979) is an American country music artist. She has charted seven singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, and has released three studio albums. Her highest-charting single, "Forgive", peaked at N ...

James Otto James Allen Otto (born July 29, 1973) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Otto began his career on Mercury Nashville Records in 2002, charting three minor singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts and recording his deb ...

Amy Dalley Amy Dalley is an American country music artist. Signed to Curb Records in 2003, she left the label in 2008. Dalley has released seven singles, of which five have entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts despite never releasing an ...

, Raul Malo, among many others, and remains active as a session musician, performing songwriter, sideman, and educator. Graves has performed with

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and relea ...

, Nanci Griffith,

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...

Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), ...

bassist

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...

, Late Show drummer

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African session drummer, perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Ba ...

, Flaco Jimenez, Steve Berlin, and many others. He has played venues such as the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

, the Ryman Auditorium, the Fillmore, the Great American Music Hall, the Edmonton Folk Festival, the Highline Ballroom, the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and has appeared on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

''. He has recorded three original CDs: ''Crazy Italians'' (1997), ''Memphis'' (2001) and ''Live'' (2003). ''Crazy Italians'' included the cut "Princess Grace," which was featured on the ''Performing Songwriter'' magazine 1999 CD sampler showcasing their picks for the top 12 unsigned independent releases. Critic Russell Hall of ''Performing Songwriter'' called ''Crazy Italians'' "consistently fresh and inventive," and "intelligent pop music--tightly crafted songs that lend themselves well to improvisation in a live setting." "Memphis" features drummer Scott Amendola, keyboardist Rob Burger (

Tin Hat Trio Tin is a chemical element with the Chemical symbol, symbol Sn (from la, :la:Stannum, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand wit ...

, Norah Jones), and bassist Lee Alexander (Norah Jones, Amos Lee). "Memphis" has been played on over 300 radio stations worldwide, and in the summer of 2002, charted top 30 at some 50 stations, such as WTSR Ewing, NJ (#3), WNYK Nyack, NY (#10), and WUIC Chicago (#14). Rosalie Howarth of San Francisco's KFOG called it "very, very good"; "excellent CD," said KRZA in Colorado; and "a great, great disc," said music director Sean Wilson of WTSR.

References

External links

website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Ben 1971 births Living people Wesleyan University alumni American singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters People from Martin, Tennessee 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers