INSPADES MAGAZINE SETTE | Page 46

fiddle flares amidst a poetic ballad with passionate precision, the strings singing with traditional folk music, seeded with east coast inf luence. Benjamin Dakota Rogers, relaxes the bow in his hand. His voice — gritty and evoking — fills the space, pulling at parts of you from the inside, parts you didn’t even know you had. A multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and composer, Rogers — with his captivating storytelling — marries poetic lyrics with lively fiddle and brisk guitar compositions, creating songs that are, at times, both heart-wrenching and explosive. “I feel like being on stage and getting to perform for an audience willing to listen and participate is always a gift, but I also love being in the studio and getting to build music and just experiment,” says Rogers. 46 inspadesmag.com This “alternative folk powerhouse” is debuting his third album, Whisky & Pine, a collection of eleven original songs brimming with raw emotion and sultry harmonies. Yet while influences of Leonard Cohen, Gregory Allen Isakov and Passenger ring throughout this album, Roger’s unique voice, thought- provoking lyrics, energetic performances and dynamic fiddle techniques leave this up-and- coming musician in a class of his own. “My creative process has a lot to do with improvisation,” divulges Rogers, “I don’t write chords or lyrics one before the other. I sit down with a guitar and start singing and playing. Sometimes what comes out is exactly what goes on an album and sometimes I tweak it for a year, but it usually all starts out with some sort of emotion and just rolling with it.” At the age of seven, Rogers inherited his