Ben Harper and his mom Ellen have teamed up for a new collaborative album, Childhood Home, set for release a week before Mother's Day. As Rolling Stone reports, the 10-track effort will feature "the good, bad, ugly and beautiful parts of home and family life with four tracks written by Ellen Harper and six by Ben."
Harper spoke to Rolling Stone about the genesis of the project saying, "My mom and I making a record together is something we have talked about doing for a very long time. I guess you could say a life time."
Ben comes from a long line of musicians. His mother was a multi-instrumentalist, and his grandparents established The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California, where Ben would spend many afternoons around countless instruments and talented musicians.
"I was a single mom, so he would come to the music store pretty much every day after school, and help out while I was working. I think he just absorbed a lot of it," Ellen said in a statement. "It was in his environment, everywhere, because I used to play in bands, and he used to hang out with us all the time."
The album's opening track, "A House is A Home," is now streaming on RS. On the folk number explores the enduring nature of a homestead: "Even when it's dark / even when the grass is overgrown in the yard / even when the dog is too old to bark / and when you're sitting at the table trying not to start."
Childhood Home is due out May 6 via Prestige Folklore. Listen to "A House is A Home" here and check out the tracklist below. Let us know what you think in the comments section.
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