On The Verge

Ben Howard

London, England
Sing Softly and Carry a Big Song
www.benhowardmusic.co.uk

For a quiet guy, Ben Howard has a lot of fans. Acolytes, really, who flock to the 25 year old’s sold-out gigs across the globe, because they can’t get his intimate, rustic melodies out of their heads. As a teen, Howard let his interests, especially surfing, carry him from one adventure to another. But music was always the constant; and once his sporadic gigs became regular sellouts, he started work on his debut, Every Kingdom, in a converted barn in the countryside. “My songs are about people,” he says. “I always get asked if surfing influences my music but it doesn’t—it’s more about the people I’ve met along the way and the places I’ve seen.” And though his album has already gone gold in the U.K., he’s not planning on resting on his laurels. In fact, Howard’s already tinkering around with some new songs that—earmuffs, Newport Folk Fest 2013 bookers—he says have a definite electric sensibility. “The most important thing about my music is the heart and soul in my songs,” he says. “And there’s a real freedom to that because you’re not tied to just recreating one sound—the music goes wherever your heart goes.”