Feet on Fire, by Ben Chapmam
Born and raised in Georgia and residing in Nashville, Ben Chapman doesn’t need to embellish the authenticity of his Southern accent. It’s integral to how he sings and how he writes songs, and it’s a constant on his latest LP, Feet on Fire.
Another constant is a friends-and-family vibe: Anderson East, a fellow dreamer who moved to Nashville from the Deep South, returns as producer, mixer and steady second guitarist, while Meg McRee, one more singer and songwriter and not incidentally Chapman’s wife, provides comfort and a touch of sass with complementary backing vocals.
East and McRee also help with the writing: the former makes a particularly strong contribution to the 3 a.m. bluesiness of “You Say Jump,” further humidified by Mellotron from Phil Towns; the latter naturally gets a say in “Baby Blue,” a deliberately sentimental (and slightly mawkish) ballad to her and Chapman’s son, born in 2025.
However, even when angels show up in the lyrics to guard the preborn child, East doesn’t bring in angelic choirs or drippy strings, and the smile within Chapman’s delivery sounds and feels genuine. That smile turns into a grin with “Out in the Country,” an idyll of rural pleasure that Roger Miller or Tom T. Hall couldn’t have sung or penned much better.
When Chapman decides to put his Southern into rock, he creates a late-night kiss-off like the title track or the red-light strut of “Don’t Give It All Away.” When he decides to put his Southern into funk, he smartly relies upon Booker T. Jones-style organ (Towns again) and a loopy bassline (Gregg Garner) to woo his “Lucy.”
Thanks to a consistent assembly of accompanying musicians, completed by drummer Darren Dodd, Feet on Fire resembles an unexpectedly tight show live from the back porch. Ben Chapman’s accent and songs ought to earn him a larger stage.
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