Ben & Ellen Harper

My Childhood Home, the collaborative project from Ben Harper and his mother Ellen, is a sonic representation of the musical heritage Ben's mother passed on to him from his childhood on.

Ellen, an accomplished singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist in her own right, has been the caretaker/owner of the Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, CA - founded by Harper's maternal grandparents. The center was a magnet for up-and-comers such as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj Mahal, who became extended family members, providing master classes in creativity and philosophy, all of which influenced the young Ben Harper.

My Childhood Home features 10 songs -- six written by Ben and four written by Ellen. They included "A House Is A Home," "A Heavyhearted World," "How Could We Not Believe," "Memories Of Gold" and "Learn It All Again Tomorrow."

"I was a single mom, so Ben 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 recently said in an interview.

Ben said "This album is a portrait and it's a conversation."

After six weeks of dates in the U.K. and Europe, Ben Harper has a series of dates in North America booked - some with the Innocent Criminals, some with Charlie Musselwhite and some as "an acoustic evening ..."

• 6/21 SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Saskatoon
• 6/23 The Venue @ The Hub, Fargo, ND
• 6/25-29 Summerfest, Milwaukee
• 6/26 Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater , Grand Rapids, MI
• 6/27 Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa
• 6/28 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Montréal
• 7/09-13 Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg
• 7/26 FloydFest , Floyd, VA
• 8/09 Magic City Blues, Billings, MT
• 9/11 Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City
• 9/13 Weill Hall at Green Music Center, Rohnert Park, CA
• 9/14 Mountain Winery , Saratoga, CA

For more, visit www.benharper.com.

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