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Benjamin Riley CD Release
Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids
March 25, 9:15 p.m.
Free

Benjamin Riley has had a busy winter. He and band mates released their first record in November of last year, and have been playing shows and recording ever since. They will be releasing a new album March 25 at Founder's Brewing Company

The new album, I Can See Glory, is a collaboration between Riley and band mates Justin Van Haven (electric guitar), Justin Bardolph, Tim Lenger (basists). The sound on the record is filled in with various other "odds and ends," as Riley describes, who bring instruments that range from the cello to the slide guitar.

Van Haven co-produced, mixed and edited the album, which is being released more or less collectively on Caveman Records out of East Grand Rapids. Collectively, because the band seems to understand the value of the musical community it is a part of, drawing support from other local talent like Nathan Kalish and Julio Gomez. I Can See Glory, will be released digitally on iTunes, and as a CD sold at shows and retailers like cdbaby.com.

Riley describes his music as soul and roots, "the music you grew up on," and points to influences like Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke on the bands MySpace page.

Riley's voice is powerful, with a bluesy twang you would hardly expect from a shy-looking young man hiding behind an epic beard. His voice even veers toward a surprise growl now and again. Perhaps that is why it takes full musical arrangement to really stand up to such a raw instrument.

That arrangement is what really sets the difference in tone from the band's previous album to this one. The production is so much more complete. Riley describes the sound as "way more in-depth" than band's first effort, which was based in simpler acoustics. This album is piano driven and instrumentally more diverse.

"The music is dynamic-always changing. Everything changes," he said. "I'm really happy to be playing with these people, but they are always changing, too."

This is not your average rock band, however. The roster isn't changing because of drunken brawls and stolen girlfriends. Instead, Riley cites things like "getting a real job," or simply lacking the time. And it's no skin off his teeth. He seems happy to glean what he can from just about any given musician who wants to play with him.

That's what really gets to the root of it. Riley is serious about music, but he doesn't take it too seriously. That reflects in everything he does, says, and writes. There is a total lack of pretention in any of it, even though local reviews of his music might give him a lot to brag about.

"It's pretty cool. I get to play my music with people I like at places that serve good beer... I never know if I'm more of a musician or an alcoholic, but that's OK," Riley said.

The release of I Can See Glory is a free event for folks 21 and up. It will begin at 9:15 and will also feature the talents of Those Eighty Acres and Nathan Kalish and the Wildfire, as well as some solo work from Van Haven.