Armed And Acoustic

Party rocker Benjamin Del Shreve reintroduces softer side

Benjamin Del Shreve thought about using a new name for his current music project because it’s so different from his previous two recordings.

Both were made with a full band but carry his name.

But he came to a realization as he wrote and prepared the mostly acoustic songs for “The Diamond,” an album he will release tonight at George’s Majestic Lounge. Why should he call something that so thoroughly reflects who he is right now by some other name?

“The rock record is not how I feel right now,” he says while relaxing on Dickson Street on an usually warm late November day. “I’m not just a rocker. I’m a musician.”

And so it has been for many years. Del Shreve officially got his start in the Christian rock band GS Megaphone, which achieved a moderate level of commercial success, including a nomination for a Dove Award, Christian music’s equivalent of a Grammy.

His travels later brought him to Fayetteville, which he used as a home base, recording two guitar-heavy party rock records, “Brilliant & Charming,” followed by “Sleeping Sweetly.”

The shift in direction toward acoustic music came somewhat suddenly but was not withoutprecedent. He’s always penned songs in an acoustic style, he says, but never released them commercially. This time around, Del Shreve and his Fayetteville-based band were hard at work on a new rock ’n’ roll record, a collection he says was nearly complete. But the potential rock ’n’ roll record meant another round of the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle.

“I’ve slowed down my life,” Del Shreve says. With a downtown Fayetteville bartending gig, a place near Wilson Park and a love of riding the area’s bike trails, DelShreve jokes he’s just owning a dog away from being a Fayetteville townie.

Del Shreve recorded the album at first largely by himself, then with the assistance of Adam Putman of Insomniac Studios in Fayetteville. But he realized something else, too: His touring band was a big part of the process already, having paid for the recording process courtesy of the previous rock shows. “I’d rather have some ofmy friends around to share this with,” he says.

Although the acoustic-first approach to “The Diamond” is a departure, many of the previous elements of Del Shreve’s music remain, particularly in the dueling guitar approach. There are familiar themes, too, like “Flower Gathering,” a take on a Robert Frost poem and somewhat of an antithesis to the song “Flower Gazer” froma previous recording. Other songs, such as “Mt. Sequoyah,” directly reflect the Fayetteville aesthetic Del Shreve has adopted.

“If people don’t get it, that’s OK,” Del Shreve says. “I just wanted to hear these songs.”

Whats Up, Pages 15 on 12/07/2012

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