Americana
Hunter Benson: Heaven's Letter
(Independent / February 21, 2025)

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Singer Songwriter Hunter Benson delivers three songs with their hearts in country - but with a few surprises to offer. In addition to Heaven's Letter, he's released two other singles in advance of an EP: Come and Gone, and Seeking.

With slightly raspy yet fluid vocals that suit the genre, each of the three singles carves its own niche. 

Heaven's Letter is classic Americana with slide guitar ably supplied by Dan Kalisher. Along with the expected melody and heartfelt lyrics, there are some intriguing chord changes and progressions. Benson says he was influenced early on by artists as diverse as Alice in Chains and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and you can hear that in the mix despite falling solidly in the country/Americana slot. The lyrics are a bittersweet reflection on life.

Come and Gone is a country rocker, the lyrics about the usual relationship woes. Skip Edwards adds a nice churchy Hammond B3 to fatten up the sound.

Seeking leans even more heavily into rock, where the country edge bumps up against long melodic chord progressions. 

The blend of dark and light, twangy pedal steel and angsty chord changes creates a distinctive take on the well-worn Americana-slash-country sound, and it likely comes from his background. At the age of three, Hunter and his father were struck by lightning, an event that took his father's life, and changed his forever.   

The full EP is slated for release in late fall 2025.