“A friend took me to see Ben de la Cour at a little hole-in-the-wall in Nashville. It didn’t take long to realize I was in the presence of greatness. He has much to say, and knows how to say it as only a true poet can.”
– LUCINDA WILLIAMS
“Ben de la Cour is a master of building foreboding soundscapes, turning over the cracked pavement in our souls and kicking up whatever lies underneath.”
– NO DEPRESSION
”Ben de la Cour is a hell of a songwriter and singer too. His songs are haunting, dark and poetic in a Townes Van Zandt or Mark Lanegan kind of way. ’I Must Be Lonely’ is one of the best loneliness songs I’ve heard in an age – slow, spare, sombre and really beautiful.”
– MOJO MAGAZINE
”On his latest album, New Roses, Ben strips away any preconceived notions of what an Americana artist should sound like.
– GLIDE MAGAZINE
“De la Cour has steadily built a reputation as one of the finest singer-songwriters of his generation, weaving evocative stories laced with both savagery and empathy, pain and ecstasy.”
– AMERICANA UK
“A standard bearer for Southern Gothic Americana noir, Ben de la Cour has the striking ability to craft a compelling narrative with a novelist’s skill in just a few lines.”
– FOLK RADIO UK
“Every so often a new singer-songwriter appears seemingly fully formed… Ben de la Cour is the real deal.”
– TERRASCOPE
“Ben de la Cour’s stories capture human frailty in its naked horror.”
– LYRIC MAGAZINE
“Ben de la Cour pulls no punches and always manages to dig deep into the most battered firmament with a voice that sounds like the American Heartland witnessed through the window of a car going 80 mph.”
– AMERICAN SONGWRITER
“On his new record, Ben has refined and enriched the sweet, savage way he pulls your heart up through your throat with his quietly tragic characters in devastating scenarios. It is somehow gruesome and viscerally moving, a fine line he manages to amble along with nary a stumble.”
– THE TELEGRAPH
“Ben de la Cour is hands down one of the best songwriters around. But it’s not just that – he’s a true raconteur, which elevates him to full troubadour status. “
– JIM WHITE
“Ben de la Cour is a prodigious storyteller, the vividness of his lyrics as powerful as the darkness that they possess.”
– TWANGVILLE
“Ben de la Cour is in my opinion the best songwriter currently working… Highly appreciated by a modest number of devotees, Ben is this generation’s Townes Van Zandt.”
– ROCK CLUB UK
“Ben de la Cour writes rich and uncompromising narratives of lyrical fierceness and rough beauty.”
– MAVERICK MAGAZINE
“Ben de la Cour writes beautifully grim, exquisitely crafted and fearlessly uncompromising work.”
– TINNITIST
“With New Roses, Ben de la Cour is producing work – both musically and lyrically – up there with the very best singer-songwriters of our generation.”
– THE ROCKING MAGPIE
“With the storytelling nous of an Americana Nick Cave, Ben de la Cour takes another dark detour down the roads you really don’t want to travel on New Roses.”
– SCOTTISH DAILY EXPRESS
“A heavy dose of Americana noir that glistens with reams of exceptional songwriting… Sweet Anhedonia is a record to get lost in, peruse or study and just enjoy a masterly approach to the songwriting art.”
– THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH
“Sweet Anhedonia is a career best for de la Cour and one that singles him out as being among the very best singer/songwriters working today (or at any time).”
– LONESOME HIGHWAY
“Ben’s inner unrest turns out to be an excellent breeding ground for songs that matter.”
– ALT COUNTRY NETHERLANDS
Having established himself as a purveyor of Southern Gothic Americana noir, New Roses marks something of a sea change musically in that, reflecting the title, he’s embarked on a journey into heavier, synth-inspired, loops and snarling electric guitar territory that adds new textures to his normally fingerpicked material. You will be pleased, however, to learn he’s still immersed in the bleakness of the human condition.“
– FATEA RECORDS
“Sweet Anhedonia is a lyrically thought-provoking set of songs set against diverse musical backgrounds and textures, incorporating influences from Americana, folk, rock, pop and a whole lot more, skillfully blended to create a work that is entirely Ben de la Cour.”
– MUSIC RIOT
“A dark, genius talent, Ben knows a thing or two about living hard and living rough. But this is no memoir – Ben’s a storyteller, and every character, every song feels real.”
– AMERICANA HIGHWAYS
“Ben has a 12-round heart – his songs are so alive they scare me.”
– JON DEE GRAHAM
“Smoky poteen from the swamplands, enticing gothic noir of merit, Ben de la Cour offers a vice-like grip on your senses.”
– AT THE BARRIER
“Ben de la Cour’s music is a dark and atmospheric trip through Southern gothic imagery and the desperate throes of addiction.”
– UNDER THE RADAR
“Ben de la Cour’s new album lives up to everything I was hoping for. Sparse and dark, sinister and gritty – I can’t wait to listen a hundred more times.”
– MODERN COUNTRY MUSIC THAT DOESN’T SUCK
“Shadow Land is one of the finest albums of its type there’s been in a long while. You can talk about Steve Earle, Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell and countless others, but you’ll never quite nail what Ben de la Cour does here.”
– MAXIMUM VOLUME
“Ben writes about wounds that don’t heal in a way that is deep and profoundly beautiful.”
– ADAM CARROLL
“Ben de la Cour has the stellar ability to tell compelling, character-driven stories in three-minute increments.”
– NEW NOISE MAGAZINE
“Who takes the pulse of middle America? Ben de la Cour does, a songwriter who with punk rock tenacity vividly expresses the state of a nation on the brink and losing hope in its future, of a people grasping at straws.”
– MAKING A SCENE
“Ben’s brain is a temple of exotic monkeys drunk on fermented mango juice stolen from a reprobate jesuit.”
– JIM WHITE
“Ben de la Cour conjures devastating stories and delivers them with grit, passion and believability. He needs to be heard!”
– WMOT NASHVILLE
“Ben de la Cour is the real deal. He is riveting to watch and hear on the high wire of his own making. He is original, thought provoking, funny and poignant – a rare combination. “
– ROD PICOTT
“Gruff but well-read, quiet but dancing circles on one heel in the kitchen, Ben de la Cour is the enigma, the lone picker, the troubadour, the drifter, the one man band. He is a revitalizing force.”
– AMERICAN MUSIC PROJECT
“At times de la Cour sounds like a traditional folksinger; at times he sounds like a blues musician. He can do rock star or country outlaw. But no matter the style, he never relents from insisting on twilight’s unending creep.”
– DUSTED MAGAZINE
“While there’s certainly no shortage of singer-songwriters from Nashville these days, few are as skilled and memorable as Ben de la Cour.”
– TAKE EFFECT
“Ben de la Cour makes the plight of small-town America resonate in a way that’s emotive and personal, covering a loss of identity to the point where it takes on an apocalyptic vibe.”
– LEMONWIRE
“Ben de la Cour releases albums of rare depth and intensity on an unsuspecting world as he chronicles the darkly troubling flipside of the American dream with wit, empathy and perception.”
– MESSENGER NEWS
“Telling stories with sharp lyrics over a catchy tune may be a neglected art these days, but nobody’s working harder than de la Cour to push that envelope.”
– NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
“A true troubadour of Nashville’s east side, Ben de la Cour maintains a realist perspective that few others are capable of.”
– NOW/IT’S NASHVILLE
“Ben de la Cour is an exceptional songwriter… The music he makes can be challenging, and even harrowing at times, but it makes for an extraordinary encounter and one that resonates with authority, assurance and his own worldly wisdom.”
– GOLDMINE MAGAZINE
“Ben can take an every day occurrence and turn it into a full-on study of the downside of human existence.”
– PBX
“Biting wit and heartbreaking honesty.”
– ROOTS MUSIC CANADA
“Ben de la Cour bleeds the songs he sings.”
– TURNSTYLED, JUNKPILED
“Strange fever dreams of bad luck gone right, of embracing the long odds and playing them anyway, of laughing in the face of despair… and then inviting her in for a nightcap.”
– THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION
“Ben de la Cour’s music is a darkly beautiful meditation on what it means to be human.”
– MAD MACKEREL
“Ben de la Cour’s dark little vignettes are pretty “noir” but pretty dang cool.”
– MUSIC ROW MAGAZINE
“A narrator’s narrator, Ben de la Cour is one of the most credible heirs to the throne of the late Jim Croce. He has the same accuracy with the descriptive shortcut, although more acerbic in his observations of the human race.”
– PARIS MOVE
“Brilliant”
– BBC RADIO
“Ben is one of my favorite songwriters in Nashville — or anywhere.”
– KEVIN GORDON
“Storyteller is a word that is bandied about incessantly in the Americana world. Some fall short of the title; Ben de la Cour definitely does not.”
– MOTHER CHURCH PEW
“Ben de la Cour delves into the poetic side of folk storytelling to bring his stories to life.”
– FRANK GUTCH JR
“A true troubadour for the modern age.”
– RED LINE ROOTS
“Ben de la Cour’s songs are mesmerizing in their haunting lyrical quality. They possess an addictive quality that gets under your skin and leaves you with a vaguely uneasy feeling, like you have just relived a moment you can never quite recall.”
– BLACK CHALK MAGAZINE
“Ben de la Cour is a talent of undeniable charisma. Here is an album that creates scenarios that haunt us after the fact and challenge us to remain unmoved in the face of their dark honesty. Beautiful.”
– VICTORY MUSIC
“Listening to Ben de la Cour’s songs feels like taking a journey back in time.”
– INDIE BAND GURU
“Folk in the great American troubadour tradition.”
– BEAT SURRENDER
“Sounding fresh yet well-worn, there’s a warm comfort that blankets the demons haunting Ben de la Cour’s songs.”
– BUCKET FULL OF NAILS
“Ben de la Cour’s songs are stripped back revelations that sound like they are ripped directly from his heart… This album is going to stand up to repeated playing and is unlikely to sound dated even years down the line. A moving, beautiful collection of songs and currently my favorite album.”
– PENNYBLACK MUSIC
“Ben de la Cour is a folk musician with the songwriting acumen of a young Nick Cave. His music is stark, melancholic and packed with emotion and will send you collectively weak at the knees.”
– FRESH DEER MEAT
“Men just don’t come like this anymore, it seems. Combining the dusky grit of the most hardened bar band singer with the lilt of a folk singer, De la Cour’s vocals are well-suited to Americana, and his songwriting chops match his vocal range…There is not one superfluous note on this album.”
– ADOBE AND TEARDROPS
“Like many musicians, Ben de la Cour is attractive and brooding with a certain air of calmness about him that one might mistake for lethargy. Unlike many people who simply look like musicians, however, de la Cour has the voice and the songwriting skills to back it up.”
– THE NOLA DEFENDER
“Under a Wasted Moon is a beautifully bleak and stark album with lyrically rich songs… de la Cour has the substance of a great folk singer.”
– COMMON FOLK MUSIC
“Literary, moody and hauntingly melodic”
– SAN FRANCISCO FREE FOLK FESTIVAL