Ben Hulan
The Present Plays
© 2005 Ben Hulan, Saturday Time Music (ASCAP) (783707026909)
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Bluegrass, Folk and Acoustic Pop from an award-winning songwriter.
tracks
- 1 Flowers Would Blush
- 2 Lonesome Feelings
- 3 Riptide
- 4 Love & Baseball
- 5 Maybe the Mountains
- 6 Runnin with the Moon (The Ballad of Virginia Mae)
- 7 St. Anne's Reel
- 8 Saturday Time
- 9 What's Inside
- 10 Orbiting
- 11 Spaghetti and Meatballs
- 12 Warning Lights
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I was born in Nashville and spent a happy early childhood in Austin. My dad was pursuing a PhD in Folklore so I grew up literally surrounded by authentic folk music and I loved it.
But when we moved to Arlington, VA in 1980, folk music didn't fly with my suburban friends. So in 7th grade, I resolved that my favorite band was DURAN DURAN.
I started writing songs with a friend before I could play guitar, then picked it up in the 10th grade when I was cast as a guitar playing character in a play. (That would be DOODY, from the musical "GREASE".) I got a lot of props for my Sha Na Na, but I wanted to be Simon LeBon. To make matters worse, I couldn't shake my southern roots. I ended up writing slightly twangy acoustic pop but I had a lot of encouragement, so I kept at it.
I was lucky to work at the Theater at Lime Kiln for three years after college. (Lime Kiln is an outdoor theater and concert venue in the hills of Virginia.) I got back into folk music -- especially bluegrass -- and I got paid to play a whole lot of rhythm guitar while acting goofy.
Finally, I found my songwriting voice was one that could borrow from all these genres, and a few others to boot. Some people say my songs sound very different. Others have commented that they all share the same sonic fingerprints -- which I hope is true! Why not give a listen and decide for yourself?
Thanks for supporting independent music!
-b
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Awards and Recognition for Ben Hulan and THE PRESENT PLAYS:
Ben's unrecorded song, "Poor Boy" won Best Song in the West Coast Songwriter's Sonoma County Open Mic, July, 2006.
Ben Hulan was nominee in the BEST NEW ARTIST category for the Washington Area Music Association "WAMMIE" awards, 2005!
"The Thief of Baghdad" (recorded for this album but excluded from the final cut) won 4th place in the Social/Political category of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, 2004.
"Saturday Time" won Honorable Mention in the Adult Contemporary category of the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, 2004. (I don't think of myself as adult OR contemporary, but I'll TAKE IT!)
A demo recording of "Riptide" won an Honor Award in the Folk category of The Great American Song Contest, 2003.
A demo of "Orbiting" can also be heard as the first track of the compilation album, "Focus Presents: Capital Acoustics, Vol. 3". 20 songs from 20 DC-area songwriters.