Meet Benji Harris

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Benji Harris. Benji was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Afton Prater.

Hi Benji, we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
As a young child, I was always fascinated with the guitar that my dad kept in his closet. I would always pull out the guitar and pluck the strings, look inside the sound hole, twist the tuners, etc. I just loved it. He also had a black and white chord book from the 1950s, showing a man making chords with his hands. When I was about 11, I started copying the chords on the guitar. I remember giving it a big strum, and the sound was magical. So I decided right then and there I wanted to learn how to play guitar.

Fast forward to 7th grade, my friends and I were brainstorming about how to get girls interested in us in the cafeteria. We decided we should become a band. So we each picked an instrument, with the mission of performing in the 8th Grad Talent Show the following year. When we took the stage the following year, performing was the biggest rush of my life. It was in that moment where I knew that I wanted to be a musician.

That band stayed together all the way through High School, playing local parties, Bar mitzvahs, graduation parties, you name it. We learned a lot during those years. I had a band in college, and we ended up going to Nashville to make a record. It was there I met my mentor, Donnie Boutwell. He produced the record we were working on and I told him I wanted to be his intern when I graduated college. So after college I went out to Nashville for three months to be his Studio intern. Rather than learning engineering, I ended up playing guitar on everything that came through the door. I even helped some of the artists he was working with fix their songs! After my internship was over, I moved to Nashville full time with the mission of becoming a professional songwriter and performer.

Six months into my residence in Nashville, I had put together a trio band called Scarletta. We were quickly discovered by a famous producer in Nashville, who signed us to publishing deals to help us land a record deal. We put our band together, we showcased for all of the labels in Nashville, but no one gave us a record deal. So we took our show on the road, touring all over the country in a 15 passenger van. We released a song to radio and a music video to CMT, and we were REALLY good. That band’s toured for five years in total before eventually deciding to call it quits.

The next phase of my journey was becoming a touring guitar player for country music stars. I really wanted to live on a tour bus and play arenas, so I put the word out with my musician friends. I was quickly hired to be a band leader for TV star turned country singer Jana Kramer. When Jana Kramer had her first child, Cassadee Pope needed a guitar player, so I joined with her. I spent the next several years playing for various major label artists. I toured the country, played huge shows in festivals, and lived my dream. After 10 years of non-stop touring I knew it was time to slow down and make a change. So I started working for a company called SongDivision, who uses the power of music to bring people together at corporate events. I now host interactive music based songwriting / team building sessions for Fortune 500 companies. It’s a total blast!

Please talk to us about your music.
Writing songs is such a special and mysterious process. It truly is incredible how you can sit down to write a song, start with nothing more than a word or an idea, and a couple hours later have something that makes people cry. In my music, I really try to take the craft seriously. I want people to be taken on an emotional Journey, reflect on their own lives, and be led to a place that is both emotional and joyful. I am so happy that I was given the gift to create this kind of art. It really is so special. People can find my music by searching “Benji Harris” anywhere they listen to music.

Afton Prater has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Afton and your experience with them.
I first met Afton Prater about 8 years ago through my good friend Sean Giovanni, who is a music producer here in Nashville. He told me he had this great young artist who was full of potential, and he thought we would vibe well together. Well, he was absolutely right. As soon as I met Afton, I knew that she had the ability and the talent to go as far as she wanted to go in music. What I loved most about her was her pure joy for what she was doing… I could tell immediately that creating music was exciting to her, which made me more excited.

Whenever I write with a new artist, I like to spend about five minutes getting to know them. If I ask the right questions, their answers usually bring about a great song idea. My first time chatting with Afton, I asked her how old she was. She said she was 15, and that she was so excited to be driving soon. When I asked her what kind of car she wanted, she said “I want a truck!”. I said, “There’s your song title right there!”. The song practically wrote itself in 20 minutes, and it became a great single for Afton. It was in a TV commercial, and I even think she may have gotten a truck from it? If so, how cool is that?

Website: https://www.facebook.com/thebenjiharris/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benjiharrismusic/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjiharris/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebenjiharris?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebenjiharris/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bman504?app=desktop