Ben and Ellen Harper will release Childhood Home on May 6, a week before Mother’s Day. The mother and son duo created ten original songs, with six written by Ben and the other four composed by Ellen. “A House Is a Home” is now available for stream over on Rolling Stone.
In 1958, Ben Harper’s grandparents established The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, CA. It was there where Ellen Harper, a talented multi-instrumentalist in her own right, encouraged her family to utilize the instruments in the museum as a musical laboratory. The likes of Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj Mahal frequented the museum, further influencing young Ben and his mother.
“I was a single mom, so [Ben] would come to the music store pretty much everyday after school, and help out while I was working. I think he just absorbed a lot of it,” Ellen told a local paper. “It was in his environment, everywhere, because I used to play in bands, and he used to hang out with us all the time.”
“Without that upbringing, I don’t think I’d be doing what I do,” Ben told the LA Times upon his grandfather’s passing in 2004.
Childhood Home Track Listing:
A House Is a Home
City of Dreams
Born to Love You
Heavyhearted World
Farmer’s Daughter
Memories of Gold
Altar of Love
Break Your Heat
Learn It All Again Tomorrow
How Could We Not Believe
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