Ben Rector is an American musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. His most recent record, Something Like This was released in September 2011. Through word of mouth the record charted at #1 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart, and climbed above Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV to the #4 spot on iTunes,albums overall, bested only by Lady Antebellum’s same day release, Coldplay, and Adele.
Lucky for us, Ben took the time to answer the questions from our 5GB interview! Read below to see what he said!
What’s the first gig you ever attended?
I went to see Jason Mraz open up for Johnny Lang. It was right around the time ‘The Remedy’ was taking off at radio. The show was ridiculous, obviously Jason is a great singer, and Johnny’s playing and vocals were unbelievable.
What is the best gig that you ever played/performed?
I’m not usually good at superlatives, but I’ll give it a try. A couple years ago I was on tour with a friend of mine named Drew Holcomb, and we wanted to play Auburn. There wasn’t anyplace to play that made sense, so somehow we ended up hiring a sound company to bring a system out to a friend of a friend’s grandfather’s farm. Or something like that. So anyways, we didn’t realize how far away from town it was until we got there. It was truly middle of nowhere. Long story short, I honestly thought 10 or 20 people would come, there were no signs, no cell reception, and it was 20 minutes outside of town. There ended up being a crazy amount of people, headlights as far as you could see driving down the dirt road to the field. There have been other special shows, but that one is probably the most memorable.
What is the best gig you have ever seen?
I saw James Taylor play an outdoor amphitheater in Utah. He’s one of my biggest influences, so for that reason alone it was special, but his playing and singing were fantastic. His voice sounded like a bell, so clean and pure.
Gig you would most like to play?
I think headlining the Ryman Auditorium would be a special experience. It’s got so much character, and being from Nashville it would be something I’d never forget.
What would be the lineup for your dream gig?
I’d have to say it’d be some type of storytellers’ thing or songwriters’ round with James Taylor, Paul McCartney, Randy Newman, and Billy Joel.
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