Ben Harper On Second-Gen Fans, Reinventing The Blues & 20 Years Of 'Burn To Shine'

It's hard to think of many artists that have a fan base as widely varied as Ben Harper. With elements of surf and psych, blues and rock'n'roll, gospel and soul, Harper's extensive career has gained him a collection of fans from all walks of life and musical tastes. It seems fitting that given this, he's just as suited to playing the upcoming Splendour In The Grass as he would be to Bluesfest or Falls festival.

Given the average age of Splendour attendees, it's easy to assume that a lot would have grown up listening to Harper with their parents; becoming second-generation fans in their own right. It's a sentiment that's not lost on the musician as he chats ahead of his impending Aussie trip with legendary harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite.

"It's great, I love it. I love it. It just means somehow it's endured, you know?" Harper laughs. "It feels good, it's the natural process and I'm just glad I'm still able to bring people into the music that I make, and that there's some new faces and old. That's what preserves the music really. So it's exciting, it's fun."

While Musselwhite and Harper first worked together back in 1997, on a project with John Lee Hooker, their own collaboration has been going strong since the release of Get Up! in 2013. This year's release, No Mercy In This Land, continues what their debut started, drawing the listener in with its evocative and soul-baring stories.

"I think it's changed me as a musician because it's definitely expanded my horizons creatively," says Harper of the collaboration. "You know, Charlie is just such a rare, rare artist that, you know, when an artist of Charlie's stature embraces you, it re-encodes your creative DNA in a specific way."

Harper is clearly a fan of Musselwhite, however, it seems evident that the project is based on mutual respect and admiration, with Musselwhite having previously credited Harper as having "reinvented the blues in a great way: playing modern while preserving the feel". Harper is humble when asked about this and if he thinks that he could be turning some of his own fans onto the blues for the first time.

"I hope so," he says. "That would be bonus, for sure, if what I'm doing is turning people onto the blues then I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing as far as playing my role in the tradition."

While Harper had already released a number of notable albums since the early '90s, it was Burn To Shine, his first fronting The Innocent Criminals, that saw him break through to mainstream success worldwide. Next year marks two decades since the album's release; something that Harper was seemingly unaware of...

"Oh my god," he says to himself in a hushed tone when asked if fans can expect anything in celebration of the anniversary.

"It caught me off guard, it really did. Yeah, we'll have to do some limited release stuff around that and hopefully we'll have to bring that record back out on tour for sure," he considers. "God, I can't believe it's been 20 years since the release; that really does catch me off guard, that one in particular... It caught me off guard in a good way."