WHY THIS MULTIFACETED ARTIST KNEW IT WAS TIME TO LET HIS LAP STEEL SHINE

BY JOSHUA M. MILLER

Ben Harper in the studio with a Richard Wilson Style 3 Weissenborn guitar

MATHIEU BITTON

BEN HARPER IS constantly looking for inspiration. The singer-songwriter/ guitarist keeps an ever-watchful eye on his internal sonic clock for guidance on what direction to go next. That desire to dabble wherever his muse takes him has led to a variety of projects. He’s doing everything from recording with his longtime backing band, the Innocent Criminals, and teaming up with music greats such as Blind Boys of Alabama, Charlie Musselwhite and Mavis Staples to collaborating with supergroup Fistful of Mercy (also featuring Dhani Harrison and Joseph Arthur) — and his mother, Ellen.

While the three-time Grammy winner has accomplished quite a bit as a performing musician, he remains committed to pushing the musical envelope. Recently, his internal clock told him it was time to record his first instrumental album, the 15-song Winter Is for Lovers, which came out in October. That’s not to say his prowess on guitar — specifically slide and lap steel — has been lost on fans or himself. Rather, he wanted his guitar to be the focal point this time.

“I’ve been taking aim on this record for a long time,” Harper says. “There’s always a number of directions I can go in, but this one was raising its hand the highest. There was a certain point a year and a half ago where it was the only thing I was working on. And that’s usually a signal that when I end up focusing on a specific sound, it ends up taking over and leading the charge.”

He attributes his specially crafted Monteleone lap steel for providing the impetus for the project. In 2017, John Monteleone gave Harper the guitar, which was dubbed the “Radio City Special Deluxe,” during a visit to his guitar shop. It was the first lap steel model that Monteleone had created.

“The making and construction of that instrument kicked it into high gear, for sure, because [it] was everything I had dreamt, and more,” Harper says.

Fulfilling his vision for the album came with unique challenges, most notably not being able to hide behind his voice. Instead, he had to adjust to the “physics of just being stripped bare, under really fine-quality microphones, without a voice or drum set to hide behind.