It took two decades of acclaimed songwriting for Ben Musser to make his solo debut.

 

As the frontman behind projects like Benyaro, he spent years in collaborative mode, stretching the limits of American roots music while teaming up with other musicians. Benyaro earned its share of accolades, playing everywhere from SXSW to the Sundance Film Festival. Even so, Musser — who juggled multiple instruments onstage, singing and strumming his acoustic guitar while simultaneously playing kick drum, hi-hat, and shaker with his feet — couldn't help but feel like something else loomed just out of sight, waiting to take shape.

 

He turns a new page with Sentimental Fever. It's more than the first album to be released under his own name; it's also the singular work of a one-man band, with Musser writing every song, playing every instrument, and sharing co-production duties with Scott Mathews. Released during an era of digital automation, Sentimental Fever is a classic album for the modern age, its 11 tracks rooted in sharp song craft, lushly-layered organic arrangements, and the sweat equity of a self-sufficient songwriter who's never defined his abilities — or his ambitions — so clearly before.

 

"With this album, I’m finally beginning to realize my potential as a singer/songwriter who can write compelling songs and perform all the parts I have in my head," says Musser, who wrote Sentimental Fever at home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and recorded it at Mathews' studio in Mill Valley, California. "It’s an achievement that’s been a long time in the making — the truest embodiment of myself, musically and artistically, to date."

 

After logging time in musical epicenters like Nashville, Austin, and New York City, Musser moved to Jackson Hole during the 2010s. The beauty of the Wyoming mountains was stunning, but he missed the artistic inspiration that had surrounded him back east. When the Covid-19 pandemic brought his touring schedule to a halt, he used the downtime to improve his chops as a keyboardist and upright bassist. New songs began to take shape on those instruments, from "Falling by the Wayside" — a propulsive, pissed-off rocker, pushed forward by Wurlitzer and slide guitar — and the romantic, Rhodes-driven love song "And to Think." Musser kept writing songs over the months that followed, embracing the full spread of his musical influences. "I'm the Lucky One" nodded to doo-wop music. The gorgeous piano ballad "Fearless Little Pearl" paid tribute to his young daughter. "Love Yourself" unfolded like a personal pep talk, stacked high with seize-the-day sentiment and Americana textures. "New York Is The Place" and "Never See Her Face" showcased his unique, percussive strumming pattern on the acoustic guitar, a combination of string pulling and popping inspired by Americana cult hero Malcolm Holcombe. Together, these new tunes found Musser taking stock of the sentimental things in his life: family, fatherhood, love lost, love found, and everything in between.

 

"I'm learning what kind of person I am — a very sensitive artist type — and I'm not fighting that anymore," he admits. "There was an angsty edge to Benyaro records like One Step Ahead of My Life, where I was pushing back against what was happening in my life. But here, I'm putting my hands up, embracing the fact that I'm a softie, and being more appreciative."

 

Meanwhile, Musser worked with his wife — fine art dealer Camille Obering — to build an art space on the couple's property in Wyoming. It was a place capable of hosting house concerts, art exhibitions, and other events. More than two thousand miles away from their former artistic stomping grounds of New York City, the couple began assembling their own artistic community out west, one that included musicians like Aaron Lee Tasjan and Walker Young; artists like Matthew Day Jackson, Marc Horowitz, and Mallory Page; and fashion designer and producer Zeb Smith. Another person who entered Musser's extended social circle was Scott Mathews, a California-based producer, instrumentalist, and Grammy-winning legend known for his work with icons like The Beach Boys and Jack Nitzsche. A mutual appreciation for one another's work turned into a decision to work together, and Musser soon found himself in Mill Valley, recording every instrument on Sentimental Fever — drums, keys, guitar, bass, even accordion — during a demanding two-week session. "It was the most intense recording session I've ever been part of," he remembers. "I was doing everything myself, so we were doing one piece at a time, bit by bit."

 

"Ben has a mighty creative force that exudes transcendent authenticity," says Mathews, "His unique discovery of unexpected logic is channeled and performed with heart and soul. High time the world discovers him!"

 

Musser and Mathews were natural collaborators. "I think he recognized a lot of himself in me," Musser says. "Scott played drums with the Beach Boys after Dennis passed away, but he was a multi-instrumentalist, too, and he'd done a lot of that on his records. He pushed me to do the same, and he gave me the green light to take risks that otherwise I might not have taken." Musser's sister and father contributed vocal harmonies to tracks like "Please Lord Keep My Babies Safe," but Sentimental Fever was almost entirely created during those two weeks in the Bay Area, with Musser filling each song with the sounds of a multi-hyphenate musician at the peak of his powers.

 

"I think I've been trying to get here this whole time," he says. "This is the first time I've made an album that doesn't have songs written with — or by — other people, and my first time playing all these instruments. It's been years of making music and art, and it’s such a happy relief to feel as though you’ve finally captured what’s going on inside of you, inside your head, inside your fingers and limbs and heart."

 

Sentimental, indeed. But with Sentimental Fever, Ben Musser gives himself permission to feel it all.