Brent Bennett’s latest CD,  A Ghost in Indiana, is another strong offering from this artist that contains both something old and something new.  The old is Bennett’s traditionally excellent multi-instrumental playing, his strong, evocative vocals, and his masterful songwriting, elements of musical strength that have garnered him not only devoted fans in the U.S., but regular airplay on Australian and European radio.  The new is that A Ghost in Indiana is a departure from Bennett’s usual electric guitar sound; instead, for this CD, Brent Bennett has adopted an acoustic-rock approach utilizing regular and slide acoustic lead and rhythm guitars backed by electric bass and drums—a softer sound than that on his earlier CDs, yet a sound just as compelling and powerful as what’s on his previous works.  Brent Bennett demonstrates clearly on A Ghost in Indiana that he’s just as an adept acoustic player as he is an electric player, both as instrumentalist and as appropriate arranger.  (Anyone who thinks that all that’s needed to create acoustic rock out of electric rock is simply play to play the electric licks on an acoustic guitar is most mistaken; all that does is create an unpalatably flat, boring and disappointing sound—for creating rock acoustically is an art unto itself.)

Brent Bennett’s forte is, of course, country rock that also incorporates significant elements from blues and traditional rock.  This is the course he follows in his musical arranging and playing, while his original song lyrics follow in the country vein of telling stories rather than, as in blues, concentrating more on creating mood poems.  As usual, the 14 original tracks on A Ghost in Indiana—11 written by Bennett himself, three co-written with his regular collaborator Rob York—are triumphs of the songwriter’s art. Brent Bennett is a compelling country storyteller in that same masterful way that the songwriting greats of country music are, as Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams are. Further, Franklin, Indiana denizen Bennett joins with other Indiana singer/songwriters who regularly create compelling yet much-too-little-recognized work, such as Southern Indiana’s Aaron Persinger, Indianapolis’s Jethro Easyfields, Muncie’s Simeon Pillar, and South Bend/Ft. Wayne’s Shar-Baby.

Multi-instrumentalist Bennett plays all instruments on A Ghost in Indiana, augmenting the acoustic basics mentioned above with the addition of congas, bongos, corrugated-wood percussive scraping, organ and synthesizer, and does all vocals, both lead and vocal choruses. 
Further, even though his storytelling songs of country-rock touch on the major themes of country music, they do so in original, not derivative, ways, with creative lyrics and approaches that engage the listener’s ears—something most contemporary music doesn’t do much anymore, especially that which gets mainstream radio and TV airplay.  This alone makes A Ghost in Indiana stand out as more than just another country music recording.  

A Ghost in Indiana features two prison and execution songs, opening-track “Alcatraz” and ending-track “Rope;” as well as the traditional woman songs, here represented by love’s yearning as expressed in “Vanishing Act” and “50 Miles Away;” bittersweet lament over a woman leaving in “Always Askin’ Myself;” exultant celebration of leaving a woman in “I Don’t Need You Anymore;” and acknowledgement of being a footloose Lothario in “The Thing That I do Best.”  “Kitty Jumped the Fence” tells the story of a woman breaking loose from domestic bondage, “Old John Shetters” of the forlorn death of a hard-hearted, hateful bigot, and “Guarding Fences” of the determined last stand of a farmer protecting his parents’ graves from being overrun and destroyed by the new highway.  Philosophical reflections on life and its vicissitudes are limned in “Keep Me in the Dark,” “Left,” “This Road” and “Whole Lotta Nothin’.”   “Vanishing Act” and “Left” are interestingly built around plays on words that far transcend mere punning.

The power of the original lyrics on A Ghost in Indiana provides a strength, substance and hard edge to the music that both complements and belies the softness of the acoustic-rock musical approach, which can too frequently descend into vocal insipidity and sponginess.  This power is further enhanced throughout by Bennett’s elegant single-string guitar playing, giving the CD a folk music quality as well.  Bennett has successfully traversed the new path he’s taken on A Ghost in Indiana, demonstrating well that he is as masterful an acoustic artist as he is as an electric one.  Furthermore, Brent Bennett is not only an accomplished craftsman, but an avid journeyman and student as well who has gleaned and mastered the best lessons that country, folk, blues and rock have to offer.
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