Will Bennett & The Tells

If Wichita, Will Bennett & The Tells' rollicking 2016 debut, was the sound of a singer-songwriter moving away from his hometown of Grinnell, IA, and starting a band, the group’s followup All Your Favorite Songs, out July 26, 2019, marks the confident sound of Bennett coming home. 

Written in the wake of an unexpected visit home after his father suffered a stroke, All Your Favorite Songs immerses the listener in the world of small-town Iowa: the inevitable march to the town’s divey watering hole (“Rabbitt’s”), the unending conflict between longing to leave (“Just Looking”) and rationalizing staying (“Linger On”), and ultimately, why we come back (“All Your Favorite Songs”). But despite its origins, this 11-track collection is not a somber affair. 

All Your Favorite Songs is a celebration of a forgotten slice of flyover country, a love letter told through three-minute bursts of the Chicago quartet’s country-tinged rock & roll. It’s an ethos that is embedded in everything from the music and lyrics all the way down to the quilt, handmade by Bennett’s mother, that adorns the cover.

Sure, there are detours along the way. With both a wink and a middle finger to The Music City, “In Nashville” offers a defiant rebuke of modern country music, a critique sharpened by the song's loving take on East Nashville honky tonk, freewheeling pedal steel and all. Diving headfirst into the rubble of a failing relationship, “Charades” begins with Bennett wryly musing that “What ya don’t know can’t hurt ya / But I’ve got way too much inertia / To stop myself from asking you right now,” before crescendoing into an unapologetic, fist-pumping chorus. 

Recorded at Chicago’s Shirk Studios with engineer Stephen Shirk (Joe Pug), All Your Favorite Songs captures the spirit of the band’s raucous live shows. You can hear echoes of early Old 97's in the freight train rhythm section of drummer Daniel Martinson and bassist Ethan Kenvarg, who lay the foundation for Wilson Brehmer’s nimble Jay Farrar-meets-Tommy Stinson guitar work and Bennett’s infectious, sharp-witted songwriting. Guest appearances from Wichita collaborator Brandon Bankes on pedal steel and Erik Jarvis (Pink Neighbor) on organ imbue the band’s cowpunk sound with some Countrypolitan flourishes.

Since their formation in 2014, Will Bennett & The Tells have toured the Midwest, opening for a variety of genre stalwarts such as Cory Branan, Austin Lucas, Ha Ha Tonka, and The Yawpers along the way. Their music has garnered praise from the likes of No Depression, Glide Magazine, and Americana Highways. And while their new album’s heart is in rural Iowa, the band has its sights set much wider. With All Your Favorite Songs, Will Bennett & The Tells are gearing up to hit the road once again, returning these songs to the barrooms and basements where their sound was forged.