Benjamin Winter

Songwriting was an unexpected calling for someone who found himself strictly on a field or court his whole life. Bred an athlete & standing a sturdy 6’5, he never appeared the Singer Songwriter part. His mother tried every year to get him to take piano lessons, but Benjamin preferred his dirty, bloody knees. His musicianship first revealed itself in high school though when he learned his first piano from football friends who were quickly frustrated that Benjamin could just "make something up" and they could only play what was written down. "I thought I was supposed to catch footballs for a living. It's what I was best at, but fate had a different plan. Should have known. I like the saying, 'If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans". In cliche form, freshman year of college a buddy put a guitar in Benjamin's hands and he didn't put it down much after that except to catch footballs. Injuries in 1999 ended that road and Benjamin found himself having to figure out who he was now. Soon after, the answer became quite clear as songs started showing up in his head uninvited. Now as a solo artist Benjamin calls his band The Make Believe as it seems to take a different manifestation every tour with an international rotating cast of cellos, guitars, keys, drums, bass, trumpets and vocalists.
-The latest release from Benjamin Winter and The Make Believe, full-length The Wind
Blows Way Up High catches us off guard. We don’t quite know which box to stick it in, so we listen again until we are singing along; One of the reasons Benjamin has been
invited to open for acts ranging from Arcade Fire to Donovan Frankenreiter & many styles
in between.
"The songs tend to come when the rain does. I am happiest when it rains, which may sound strange, but I also know a lot of you know what i am talking about. The rain cleanses. Struggles make sense, and I hear music.” So here is where we find the spirit of Benjamin’s songs. The bitter sweetness, the silver lining, the joy in sorrow, the refinement we need to realize our human condition and live it well together. It may sound heavy, but Benjamin Winter somehow approaches these topics with a signature light heartedness and humor as well as with piercing gravity. You end up either with goose bumps or singing along to a happy upbeat song. Then you realize the happy song is about dying.
Benjamin- “There are way too many words to use here to describe what my songs are about, and that’s why I make songs about it. In a nutshell, I would say I write about the human condition and our interactions. But descriptions are worthless. It makes you feel good or it doesn’t.”