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Jennifer's Texas Country

Dateline: November 3, 2003

Last month I spotlighted Haydn Vitera; this month I will feature Ben Atkins, a young man who has just released his debut album on the independent Hightone Records.

Born in the small Texas town of Henrietta, Ben grew up listening to the likes of Buck Owens, Hank Williams Sr. along with Bob Wills, who his grandfather was a fan of and helped expose the youngster to fine musical sounds and history. It was his father

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and grandfather, both auctioneers, who first impressed Ben with their talents and being able to single Leroy Van Dyke's "The Auctioneer." For a few years Ben took fiddle lessons but when in junior high he received his first electric guitar promoting him to play a multitude of songs running the gamut from Nirvana to the constant in his life - country.

While he attended Texas Tech, he decided that since music was what he wanted to do that he would go to open mic nights so he could get used to the crowd and overcome his shyness. During that time he also went to South Plains College to learn what he could by playing the dobro and bluegrass music.

A big part of Ben's career was when Lloyd Maines heard a demo of the talented artist and decided that if Ben wanted to make an album he would like to produce it. After hearing from Lloyd, Ben and his band headed down to Austin and made the collection that they now sell at the gigs they play. With that being the story for now, hopefully I can give you an update on this artist in the future.

Thank you for reading and come back next month for a new article.


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