Ben Minnotte

Artist Information

Biography

Whether spewing out tongue-in-cheek observations, pouring his heart out or going off on an instrumental excursion, Singer/Songwriter Ben Minnotte has managed to make what would on paper seem like a tremendous mess, somehow make sense.

After a series of false starts in the early 2000’s, Minnotte quietly made his debut in May of 2004 with the homemade, analog-recorded EP “West Of Elderbush Gulch”. A six-track affair, “West…” anchored by a trio of folk-minded instrumentals, established Ben as a distinctive (if idiosyncratic) songwriter and instrumentalist. The EP also featured the (as described by Ben) “on-the-road hotel room saga” known as “Lightning Never Strikes Twice”.

“West…” was followed in the Summer of 2006 with the more straightforward Singer/Songwriter effort, “Greetings From Elderbush Gulch”. “Greetings…” was mostly recorded in a furious one-day session in the basement of a (now defunct) art gallery in Longmont, Colorado. While the album was met with little response, it has nonetheless spawned a minor cult-classic in “The Horror Movie Song”.

During the recording of “Greetings…”, Ben walked away from live performance to focus on being more of a studio-based artist. However, little was heard from him afterwards, a satirical four-track EP surfaced in September of 2007 (released under the pseudonym James H. Tartan), but quickly came and went from availability and a pair of home demos posted on his MySpace page followed a year later.

In the Summer of 2009, Ben resurfaced publicly for the first time in over three years to open a four-day Denver music showcase/festival, he then followed it up with a couple more local gigs only to spend the remainder of 2009 in the studio cutting a new album.

That new album, entitled “Minn-Knot” is finished and is currently available at Amazon.com and http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/BenMinnotte1. The album is available for download at most online retailers including Itunes, Amazon and Bandcamp.

Also, the video for the song "Dark To Light" (also from "Minn-Knot") is available for streaming at youtube.com, just search "Ben Minnotte"..

You can check out Ben’s website at www.myspace.com/benminnottemusic for free downloads, new demos and additional news. The music videos for "The Horror Movie Song", "Settling The Score" and "Fugitive" are available to view on youtube (search 'ben minnotte').

Ben is currently available for solo live performances (band performances coming soon), please contact at either ben7778@yahoo.com or by phone at (720) 253-6813 for booking info.

Instrumentation

Ben Minnotte - By default, damn near everything.

Discography

2004: West of Elderbush Gulch (EP)

2006: Greetings From Elderbush Gulch

2007: Preludes To Minn-Knot (EP – withdrawn)

2010: Minn-Knot

Visit facebook.com/benminnotte or www.myspace.com/benminnottemusic for more.

Official Website

http://www.myspace.com/benminnottemusic

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• Minn-Knot available here!

Audio

• Angel In Black (Radio Edit) (Advance single from "Minn-Knot")
  Listen  
• Dark To Light
  Listen  
• Souls For Sale (Circus Fire Scene)
  Listen  
• The Horror Movie Song
  Listen  
• The Burial At Elderbush Gulch
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Angel In Black
• Dark To Light
• The Horror Movie Song

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Minn-Knot Review [+ Show ]
  

  You won’t believe what you are hearing: The music of Denver singer/songwriter Ben Minnotte is absolu...You won’t believe what you are hearing: The music of Denver singer/songwriter Ben Minnotte is absolutely angelic. He’s got the voice of a sexier Lou Reed atop fine guitar work and other instrumentation of the Folk-Rock-meets-experimental variety. His brand of Experimental is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen; it’s got keen insight, the work here is meaningful, downright artful. Minnotte himself plays acoustic and electric guitars, steel guitars, keyboard, the mandolin, banjo, bass, even some drums and other percussion, and he’s an overall brilliant instrumentalist. (Note that Zack Morris plays drums on all but a couple tracks.) Influenced by artists such as Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and Kate Bush, Minnotte has a sound that is retro yet very much alive in the present and is both forward thinking and forward moving. It is joy-playful yet steel-solid, muscle-y complex, and August-easy. (Extra credit for sustaining my interest with his lyrics, a copy of which you can get by emailing him – nice to offer that connection to fans.) If you’ve never heard of him, know that he’s actually been a fixture in the Denver music scene for a decade, but spent Sept. 26 to Dec. 18 of last year working on his “studio artist” profile, which is good for you and me because this 14-track album is as good as it gets.
  
  Sounds like: Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen
  
  Written by Jeanie Straub.

Setlist

A typical Ben Minnotte setlist consists of most of the tracks from his albums. Sets can run anywhere from 5 to 75 minutes, depending on what the venue wants.

Artist owns no PA gear, venue must provide all PA and microphones.

Basic Requirements

Calendar