• ...strange, skin-prickling tales picked up from the Moebius strip of a lost highway he's been compelled to travel on.... like a hillbilly Leonard Cohen.

    — MOJO

  • Ben Weaver is the most exciting young songwriter I've come across, an American original whose voice and guitar are matched only by the power of his words. His songs are an incredible, haunting gift of music.

    — Author Larry Brown

  • ...musical postcards that recall a rural Tom Waits, or Greg Brown in his dark, bluesy moments. He's like that spooky old guy who lives in a trailer but tells amazing stories.

    — Utne Reader

  • ...country-rooted Americana full of weary determination and aphoristic clarity, somewhere between the Band and Tom Waits.

    — The New York Times

  • Weaver remains a riveting lyricist and A-level student of the Tom Waits School of Gutter Bum Poetry.

    — Twin Cities Metromix

  • The folk artist Leonard Cohen would have been if he'd have grown up a few Great Lakes away in the northern United States

    — Daily Nebrasken
Hometown: 
Minneapolis, MN

A writer of great nuance and simplicity and simple wonder, Ben suffuses his songs with a sense of place and detail.  Natural, everyday wonders are his inspiration (and shouldn't they be for everyone, really?)

Born in Eugene, OR, Ben calls the upper reaches of Minnesota his home now, and it shows.

He's been compared to such songwriting and performance luminaries as Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Richard Buckner, and while he can channel their raspy growls and mystical sense,  Ben remains his own artist.  Stridently independent and unbending in his quests, Ben might not be everyone's cup of herbal tea, but if he were, he'd be boring.

Weaver is also an accomplished artist and writer: You can find his short story "Humanesque" in Amplified, a collection of fiction by songwriters including Rhett Miller, Robbie Fulks, and Jon Langford, while his art is often posted to his Tumblr.

Artist Website
Compilation Tracks: 
Recommended if You Like: 
Leonard Cohen
Richard Bucknet
Iron & Wine
Bon Iver
Bill Callahan
Vic Chesnutt

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