Ben Rector may be "Brand New" to most listeners, but to me, he's familiar as a friend; his music has been filling my ears for years now. His songs have helped me through hard times, usually played in the background during good ones, and most of all they have reminded me that there are still artists out there that are ordinary, down-to-earth humans just like us.
The second I heard "Brand New" play on the radio, I flipped out. I remember frantically jumping up and down and shouting, "Oh my GOSH it's BEN!!!" in the driver's seat of my car while my little brother stared at me from the passenger seat like I was a crazy person. It brought me so much happiness to hear people hum that tune under their breath or talk about how they like the song. Heck, even my brother came to love Ben's new hit so much that he learned how to play it on the piano.
I had often talked to my close friends about how Ben deserves more recognition, and that more people should listen to his music, and now they finally were. But I'm here to tell you why your Ben Rector experience should venture further than just waiting for "Brand New" to roll around on the radio. I'm here to tell you why I loved him years before anyone knew his name, and why you should too. I'm here to tell you "Why We All Need More Ben Rector In Our Lives".
He Loves Hillary
No, I don't mean the Clinton kind of Hillary. I mean Ben's adorable wife, Hillary. If you listen to enough of Ben's music, you can tell that he really loves this girl. She is his "Ordinary Love" that makes him happier than any amount of fame or money could. She's the one he could love "Forever Like That". She's the one that makes him feel like new sunglasses, like a brand new pair of jeans, like taking chances, like seventeen. Seeing how Ben Rector looks at his wife makes me that much more of a loyal fan. After all, there is nothing more admirable than a man who's crazy about his girl.
"The Men That Drive Me Places"
One of the biggest reasons I call myself a Ben Rector fan is because he is extraordinarily humble, especially for someone in the music industry. To me, nothing exemplifies this humility like his song, "The Men That Drive Me Places". In this song he talks about his driver, Danny, and how they had a casual conversation about Danny's life. In this conversation, Ben is hit with this realization that he is half the man of the men that drive him places (or so he feels). Ben is astounded how guys like Danny could build their future out of hustling and hard work, and no one'd ever know his name; yet guys like Ben make money merely by singing on a stage, and for that, everyone knows his name.
It's just a great, great song, and all of you need to listen to it. Even without the meaning behind it, the music alone is awesome. The piano is soft and steady, and the melody is beautiful.
His other songs are just as awesome too.
All of Ben Rector's songs just mean something. They're not empty like a lot of songs out there in the pop world; they're full of reasons and stories and experiences. If this article is starting to convince you to listen to more of his songs, then I highly recommend "More Like Love", "Beautiful", "When A Heart Breaks", "Sailboat", "Crazy", aaand basically all the rest of them. But you can start with those.
He's the only Tenn-I-See.
Yup, that's right! Ben has his roots right here in sweet home Tennessee. He sometimes alludes to Nashville in his songs, or "leaving his love in Tennessee" whenever he goes out on tour (probably Hillary). As if there already weren't enough reasons to love Ben, now we can love him because he's basically family to us Tennesseans!
He's honest and down-to-earth and watches The Bachelorette.
If The Bachelor Nation's newest star couple loves him, then that's a key sign that we should too, right?
He's great at tour names.
What better way to name his biggest tour than "The Biggest Tour I Have Done So Far"?
Oh, Ben. You're such a dork. But in the best way.
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I am so glad that more people are becoming aware of the awesomeness that is Ben Rector. But he's so much more than just "Brand New".
So go listen to all of his songs, follow him on Instagram, go see him on His Biggest Tour He Has Done So Far, and I promise you won't regret it.
