Southeast Ohio-born singer/songwriter Ben Davis Jr. released his Roots EP in 2021, taking on a more stripped-down sound and recording with minimal overdubbing. The title track’s music video then won Davis Jr.’s 2nd place in the “WAHL USA Most Talented Beard in America Contest.” He has followed that high-point by readying a new single for release on July 28th, 2023, “Winding Binding Road.”

Currently, Ben Davis Jr. is a full-time performing musician, both in the studio and on the road. Working on new recordings and performances at many new venues in 2023, he’s often found playing out with his backing band, The Revelry.

We’re delighted to premier Davis Jr.’s new track, “Winding, Binding Road” here on Wildfire Music + News today, which he co-wrote with Michael C. Parris. This rocking Americana-accented song may reflect on quieter times and a tendency to withdraw from the world, but it sounds like a determined foray into self-knowledge. And that knowledge involves the sense of a future that is far from quiet or lonely, as Davis Jr.’s vocals soulfully insist.

It’s a salient, energizing reminder that accepting the changes that result in life’s ups and downs also means we are ready to encounter new possibilities and better able to seize them.

Ben Davis Jr. shares about the track:

This song started out as a verbalization of my general anxiety. I hide away from everyone in a quiet bar and reflect on the rest of my life. I paired with songwriter Michael C. Parris out of the great state of North Carolina to really help visualize the inner-workings of the mind of a traveling musician.

On the new track, Ben Davis Jr handles guitar and lead vocals, Ben “Lafe” Ervin plays guitar, Eddie Ashworth handles keyboards, Chris Justice plays bass, Bryan Gibson is on drums. Darrin Hacquard is featured on backing vocals and tambourine, and Bobby Wheeler on backing vocals.

The song was Produced, recorded, and mixed by Eddie Ashworth at The Oxide Shed in Coolville Ridge OH, and engineered by Arman Lopeman. It was mastered by Gene “The Machine” Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering in Burbank, CA.

Ben Davis Jr. has been playing guitar since his youth and has always honed in on storytelling as well as playing in several local bands. He combines Country, Folk, and Rock to “create a deeply emotive sound that reflects the people, places, and memories of his home.”

Once he turned his focus to songwriting, Davis Jr. also collaborated with an array of regional musicians. His early influences include David Childers, Todd Snider, and The Avett Brothers, all of whom he discovered in 2007. In 2014, Ben shared the stage with The Avetts and Jason Isbellat the Nelsonville Music Festival.

His first two self-releases were The Day Before Payday (with the Dirt Poor Troubadours) and his debut solo EP, Leaving Cincinnati. In 2019, Ben released his second full-length album, Suthernahia,produced by Eddie Ashworth at The Oxide Shed in Athens, OH. This work pushed his musical vision from the Americana sound in which he is rooted, further into the realm of psychedelia.