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Failed actor and former babysitter to David Lynch's children – it's not the usual inroad into a career in music. But, then again, Benjy Ferree doesn't appear to be anything other than unusual – a bluesy singer-songwriter from Washington who appears to still be holding down a job in his local spit n' sawdust boozer whilst touring his debut record.
This album, released at the age of 32, is as you'd expect an eclectic mish-mash of styles and influences. From the opening down and dirty guitar riffs of 'In the Countryside' and the thrilling, Jack White-baiting 'Dogkillers', the record suddenly segues into a banjo led cover of Johnny Cash's 'A Little at a Time' and then gloriously hillbilly stompathon of 'The Desert'. And if that hadn't confused you enough, next track 'Private Honeymoon' is a piano-led ballad that's childlike innocence is more like Eels than anything else.
It'd be enough to make your head spin, if Benjy hadn't managed to cram ten tracks into an album that lasts just under half an hour. Ably assisted by producer Brendan Canty (he of Fugazi fame) the record never drags, and in title track 'Leaving the Nest', he has something that would fit snugly on any nu-folk album currently wafting airily around the indie charts.
While there is nothing particularly original in Ferree's blues/Americana hybrid, there are enough ideas and melodies to keep enthusiasts of both genres happy for much longer than the running time of the record. It's certainly refreshing to hear a songwriter releasing a debut album after an obviously very eventful life, rather than old-before their time teenagers like the current crop of James Morrison-alikes.
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