Grammy-Award winning, multi-platinum-selling artists BEN HARPER and CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE are wrapping up some Canadian dates this week before bringing their second joint album “No Mercy in This Land” to stages across Australia this July, announcing headline shows in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Sydney.
These shows follow their announcement as headliners at the now sold-out 2018 Splendour in the Grass Festival in Byron Bay.
Touring as a five piece line up, Ben and Charlie are continuing their 5 year-old collaboration, releasing their first new music together since the 2013 release of their collaborative album “Get Up!,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums Chart, winning a Grammy Award in 2014 for “Best Blues Album.” A musical expression of the kinship between the two, the album recounts both Ben and Charlie’s personal stories and adds to the sonic history of American struggle and survival.
For complete tour and ticketing details, visit: livenation.com.au.
“Charlie Musselwhite is that very rare and hallowed place where blues past, present and future collide,” says Ben. “He transforms notes into emotions that feel both hauntingly familiar and brand new, as if hearing them for the first time every time. He is a living legend whose harmonica playing should be beamed into outer space to search for other life forms.”
“On stage or in the studio – working with Ben Harper holds the same excitement I experienced working with Chicago blues legends back in the day,” says Charlie. “I think it is safe to say that Ben has reinvented the Blues in a great way: playing modern while preserving the feel. I am honoured and privileged to be a participant in this project.”
At first glance, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite might seem an unlikely pairing. While Ben grew up in in the tree lined Southern California college town of Claremont, a bastion of culture and liberalism just east of Los Angeles, Charlie was raised in Memphis during the time of rockabilly and Sun Records. But while the two might have come to their musical knowledge in different eras and places, each of them possesses an enduring hunger for musical knowledge that came to them early.
The great Willie Dixon called blues, “the facts of life expressed through words and song.” “No Mercy In This Land” is that kind of record. It’s the sound of pain and perseverance, it’s a meditative church and a roaring fuzzed out celebration. Experience two unimaginably talented musicians as Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite hit the road this July across Australia.
THE “NO MERCY IN THIS LAND” TOUR
HAMER HALL, MELBOURNE
WEDNESDAY JULY 11
THEBARTON THEATRE, ADELAIDE
SATURDAY JULY 14
PERTH CONCERT HALL
MONDAY JULY 16
CANBERRA THEATRE
THURSDAY JULY 19
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
SUNDAY JULY 22
For complete tour and ticket information, visit: benharper.com, charliemusselwhite.com & livenation.com.au