Benny Bleu’s banjo playing is a timeless thing to watch and hear. We find ourselves drawn in by his hypnotic style and the repetition of sweetly played melodic phrases. It’s the perfect musical backdrop for sensitive reflections. In Serenity Song, Benny ruminates on life and good intentions, delivering hopeful and thought-provoking words over his beautifully intricate banjo picking: “You can try to tell a man not to live the way he does.” His banjo notes are bright and lightly tuneful, the nostalgic tone of summers past and of sweet, faint melancholy. The sound is filled out by Gus Tritsch’s guitar and Eric Heveron-Smith’s electric bass. Subtle, shuffling, tumbling drums from Huck Tritsch build gently as the song progresses. Gus provides the backing vocals that elevate Benny Bleu’s voice, which is at the heart of Serenity Song.
Benny says of the song: “Originally released on my first album Warm Prickly with a somber, desperate tone. I re-adapted it for this record with a wistful yet hopeful approach. I wanted it to sound like summertimes of my childhood in the late 80s and early 90s, a happy place for me to reflect back on. This song, unexpectedly, has always been a favorite amongst my fans. Grief and guilt are heavy things we all carry.”
The brand new Benny Bleu album, When I Am a Fossil, is due for release on 5th June 2026. The album uses the concept of geological time, drawing on his past experience as a geologist, to explore humanity’s relationship with the Earth. In the future, scientists will study the Anthropocene, the current age shaped by the influence of humans. Benny shares: “At one time, I was an environmental geologist. If this conjures images of mountains and lakes, think instead of gas stations and factories. I witnessed the residue of man’s progress. The title track answers a question I was asked on an exam once: How might a scientist from the deep future know we were here? Surely any advanced being that finds evidence of our great experiment would be impressed by how much stuff we accumulated! And surely they would be confused why we needed it all.”
From the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, the traditional sounds of Benny Bleu and his band are quietly captivating, transporting listeners to other times and places. Beautiful stuff.
