Ben Harper interview and slide lesson
“I’ve never been able to play like anyone else. I love Andrés Segovia, Narciso Yepes—I could never do what they do. All the people I mentioned, John Fahey, Leo Kottke—I could never do that. But I’m a lap steel player. I grew up with the sound of the lap steel as my childhood lullaby. I feel fortunate to have lived long enough for that stuff to find its way into my own unorthodox style and method on the lap steel guitar.
“I’ve always heard this cross-section of classical and flamenco and blues and then something else, maybe something Celtic, far off in the distance. I mean, I’ve been hearing this record in my soul for a long time. It just took me till now to reach that sound.”
In the January/February 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar, Ben Harper shares how a new custom lap steel guitar inspired his solo instrumental album Winter Is for Lovers. In addition to interviewing Harper, I spoke with luthier John Monteleone about the creation of the instrument. The full text is available online. (For another in-depth conversation with Harper more than 20 years earlier, see the book Rock Troubadours.)
Winter Is for Lovers is a beautiful album—a soothing, meditative 30-minute instrumental journey on lap steel. Here’s a live video of Harper playing the whole thing in his family music shop, the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California.
Play “Better Way”
In conjunction with my interview, Harper created a special video demonstrating the kinetic slide solo from his song “Better Way” (memorably covered by the Chicks). A transcription of the solo, plus an arrangement of the song for regular guitar, appear in the January/February 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Read my performance notes.
