Greetings and welcome to my virtual home.

I'm guessing you found your way here because you're curious about my musical endeavors. Just to clarify, I'm the guy who plays mandolin (and other stuff) in the bands Brother Mule, Kane's River and The Growling Old Men. I also write songs, sing, teach mando and record cd's for a lot of other folks in my studio, The Henhouse. Enjoy your visit to benwinship.com. I hope you find what you're looking for; be it my recordings, tour schedule, promo stuff or the latest news. If you have any questions, or answers, or just want to be in touch, I'm at ben@benwinship.com.

Cheers,
 Ben

LATEST NEWS

JULY 4th, 2008

3rd Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Camp . Coming soon!!!
With Darrell Scott, Rob Ickes, Tony Trischka, Brian Wicklund, Tim Stafford, John Lowell, Eric Thorin and Jeremy Garrett. Check the above link for details.

Happy Fourth. Watched the Victor parade this morning, went to a little league game and am now being patriotic by updating my webpage and thinking about an ice cold, red white and blue PBR!!

Spring blew by in a fury. Highlighted by a tour of Shetland and the UK with Brother Mule, a family trip to Belize and a recent trip to Alaska w/ Thomas Sneed to teach. All were fabulous and left me full (of stomach and soul). Have been happy to have some home time this past month to catch up on domestic stuff and get reaquainted with my driftboat and the ever fine local waters.

Speaking of fishing, the next project is a sequel to Fishing Music - (if anyone has ideas for songs, we're still looking). Hoping to have it wrapped up by Christmas.

Next stop, New York. Heading east next week to go see our son, Owen (15), who is on tour, riding his unicycle w/ Circus Smirkus. Can't wait.

April 22, 08

Lots of news. At the top of the list is the release of 2 new CDs! Brother Mule’s newest, Jawbone , has just hit the shelves. It took us a while to finish it, but we are really happy with the results. A mix of original and obscure stringband material which spans the range from Old Time to gypsy swing, singer-songwriter to acoustic funk. Truly a collaborative effort with Ben, Brian and Eric all contributing equally.

Shuttle Diplomacy is the latest from the Growling Old Men. (more) Growling Old Men actually, as this time Ben & John have teamed up w/ Leon Hunt and Dom Harrison – both of England’s Daily Planet. This was a transatlantic recording w/ tracking taking place on both sides of the pond – thanks to the high speed internet. The set includes a slightly more Celtic edge than the previous GOM releases and includes a few special guests, including Brian Wicklund.

As I write this, my sunburn is pealing from a recent family trip to Belize. What a place. Jungle and ocean. Monkeys and fish.

In a week’s time I’ll be in Shetland with Brother Mule. Plenty of fish and ocean there, but no monkeys or jungle. Incredible music and whisky instead – that’ll do. We are really looking forward to the Shetland Folk Festival, followed by 10 days of touring in England.

Everything is shaping up well for the 3rd Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Camp . We are pleased to announce the addition of the songwriting class w/ Darrell Scott and a dobro class w/ Rob Ickes. The rest of the faculty includes Tony Trischka, Brian Wicklund, Tim Stafford, John Lowell, Eric Thorin and Jeremy Garrett.

12/12/07
Merry Christmas!

Enjoying the beginning of a nice winter here in Victor. Adequate snow and some good cold temps of late to help keep it on the ground. Projects in ther studio have been wrapping up nicely and I'm looking forward to performing more in the upcoming months. Got a bunch of local gigs - quite a few up at the local ski resort (Grand Targhee) w/ my pals Thomas Sneed and Margo Valiante; few trips to MT to play w/ Growling Old Men and the Hooligans; a double bill tour in Jan w/ Brother Mule and the Matt Flinner Trio (CO, WY, ID, UT) which will be a blast. Also recently learned that Brother Mule will be going to the Shetland Folk Festival in May. Can't way.

Enjoy the holidays
eat, drink, be safe and love your neighbor

ben

10/24/07
Happy Hallolween!
Not sure what I'm gonna be this year. Quite probably I won't be able to pry the headphones off my head so I'll go as a deranged studio engineer - cutting and pasting, EQ-ing, compressing and trying to speak with reverb and delay. Seems like everyone wants to make a CD this fall at the Henhouse (and have it done by Christmas). So far its been the Bar J Wranglers, Margo Valiante, the Sibleys (Holiday CD), Dan Thomasma & Terry Yazolino and a few projects for my pal Craig Korth from Calgary.This is all good; the only drawback being not enough time to work on my own projects which include a new Brother Mule CD (well under way) and the new Growling Old Men transatlantic project with Leon Hunt and Dom Harrison (working title is "bangers and grits"). Other brewing projects include a sequel to the Fishing Music CD (if anyone has ideas for songs, we're still looking) and a collaboration w/ Reeltime Traveler Thomas Sneed.

Since my last entry, I've been to Canada 3 times to teach and perform. Every time I go, the US dollar is worth less than the time before...

But mostly I've been enjoying at home this fall. Its been an amazing spell, weather and color-wise in the Tetons and I've gotten out alot to fish, hike etc. I can't remember ever having a period of time when there were so many days when I said "man am I lucky to be alive here in this place right now."

*************************2nd Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Camp will be August 7-10. Instructors include Mike Marshall, Tony Trischka, Scott Nygaard, Brian Wicklund and others. I'm running the show again. Click here for details and brochure. ******************************

5/3/07
There's a great organization/website called ukbluegrass.com which just ran an article on me and the Targhee Camp. You can check it out here. Its a fantastic website where you can read articles, check out photos, buy stuff and find out about all the upcoming gigs in the UK.

4/28/07
Just home from 2 wks in the UK. 36 hr travel odyssey from London to Victor made me wonder why the hell I live so far off the beaten path, but now that I'm home w/ my fam and witnessing spring in the Tetons, waking to sandhill cranes, geese and redwing blackbirds, and it all seems riteous. My week of teaching at Sore Fingers was rewarding asnd grueling - rewarding cause the students were great, grueling because we all stayed up too late everynight making music and carrousing - hard not to with the likes of Mollie O'Brien, Casey Dreissen, Rob Ickes, the fabulous Stuart Bros, and others. One unexpected treat was getting a chance to play with John Paul Jones. Wonderful guy and also loves to play old time.

Next is a mixing project for my pal Craig Korth's Widowmaker band CD. Off next week for a small string of gigs with Brother Mule in Colo. Looking fwd to that! So there you have it. Now I'm off on a bike ride.

3/14/07
What happened to December, Jan & Feb? Well I can tell you, but its a long story. Anyway, been real busy and up to my neck in all kinds of music. Feb was particularly fertile - alternating gigs with Growling Old Men, a Brother Mule variant featuring Brian and Thomas Sneed, another BW Band mutation w/ Thomas, Margo Valiante & Mike Rossi, sit ins w/ Jalan Crossland, Drew Emmitt, the Stagecoach Band, etc. Organized and played a contra dance w/ the Wild Coyotes. Played a fun fest up in Big Sky alog w/ Crooked Still and The Stringdusters - fun to hang w/ them all. Rushad was a guest growler on a couple numbers which was way fun.

For the past few weeks I've been notating & finishing up The Official Growling Old Men Songbook - has all the songs from our two cds plus Madison Brown. It should be available on this website in a few weeks. John & I wanted to finish it up before our big trip to England next month where we'll be teaching @ Sore Fingers (www.sorefingers.uk.co) and touring again w/ Leon Hunt and Dom Harrison. It feels good to have the book done - I was starting to feel like I was going backwards, reviewing all these songs that I wrote along time ago, instead of writing new ones, but I'm free to start doing that now and feel freshly motivated.

Its mud season here in Victor. Sloppy.

10/17/06
Holy Cow - the Growling Old Men just got to play on A Prarie Home Companion. We played 3 songs for several million people - a good warmup for our upcoming tour where we'll get to play a lot more songs for a lot less people! It was a blast and an honor. You can listen to the 9/29/06 show online via this link: PRARIE HOME COMPANION featuring the Growling Old Men. Here's what Garrison had to say about us, "I've been hearing about these young men for a long time, but they do not come around centers of american population to advance their careers - they have isolated themselves out here in Montana and Idaho on account of their lifelong obsession with fishing...not so old, not so growly, a real fine bluegrass trio - they're great." (I should add that we were a trio that day with the addition of our pal Dave Thompson on bass.)

I've been enjoying a fall spent mostly at home. My friends Sage & Jerod helped me build a straw/clay pizza oven in the backyard. It looks a thousand years old and works like a charm.

Heading off for a week of shows next week w/ John Lowell - WY, MT, WA, OR, ID. We'll start here w/ a show at Dornan's in Moose, WY - joined by Thomas Sneed. Then heading off to MN for shows w/ Brother Mule in Nov.

Other pending news is that my other band endeavor - Brother Mule - has a brand new website and most of my music is now available for digital dowload through iTunes!

9/22/06
Well England was a hoot. Leon, Dom, John and I drove around alot, drank some of the best beer and ate some of the worst food, played two great festivals, some pubs and a wedding in the ancient Bath Abby, saw Stonehenge, drank Louden Wainright's wine and managed to sound like a band when all was said and done. John has built a new website for the Growling Old Men and you can check out pics of our trip there.

Heading off to jolly England tomorrow to play for 10 days w/ John Lowell & English pals Leon Hunt and Dom Harrison- it'll be Growling Old Men w/ and english accent (plus banjo and bass).

7/30/06
Summer is going by way too fast. Maybe time moves faster when it's so damned hot. Or maybe our minds get mushy and we don't realize how fast its slipping by.

5/21/06
Grand Targhee Bluegrass Camp is really going to happen! After 20 years of playin' the show, some of the boys and I decided to take the Targhee bluegrass experience to a new level. We are pleased to announce the First Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Camp for three days preceding the Targhee Bluegrass Festival. Located at the Grand Targhee Resort, the setting will be ideal for getting away from the real world and spending time in the mountains picking and singing. Grab your instrument and head for the hills from August 9 - 11 and learn from some of my best friends: Guitar - Tim Stafford, Banjo - Matt Flinner, Fiddle - Brian Wicklund, Mandolin - Ben Winship, Bass - Eric Thorin, Songwritting - John Lowell. Space is limited, so sign up today!

5/19/06
Brother Mule. Brian Wicklund, Eric Thorin and I have been racking (wracking? wrecking!) our brains trying to come up with a new name for our trio - formerly known as Big Twang. We're thinking Brother Mule...

5/10/06

Just back from a brief mando quest down to Salt Lake with Thomas to hear Mike Compton and David Long. They are making some tremendous old and new mandolin music together. Bill Monroe is smiling somewhere I know. We got to hang out and pick with them afterwards which was fun. David Long said he used to live here and spilled water on me once...

I just finished the Carter Family book, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone . Incredible - everyone should read it. Wish I knew what to read next.

3/10/06

Sunny and 3 below in Victor. Jan and Feb were jam packed with music and deep powder in the Tetons. Highlights included a week of old time music with Martha Scanlan & Thomas Sneed (Reeltime Travelers) and the Stuart Brothers (Trevor and Travis) from N Carolina. 3 days up at Grand Targhee, a contra dance and then two sold out concerts at Dornan's in Moose, WY. Couldn't have been more fun - no sleep and dozen's of new songs.

John Lowell and I played a sub zero tour of Montana in late Feb - 60 below w/ wind chill in Livingston! Frozen beer and a live MT Public Radio broadcast from our concert in Billings were memorable. Great to rekindle the Growling Old Men repertoire.

Thomas Sneed and I were guests at Billy and Jilian Nershi's (Sting Cheese Incident) Honkytonk Homeslice annual Hoedown in Jackson Hole. more music and late night antics.

Now its down to work for a spell. Finishing up a CD of instrumental music that I wrote and recorded this winter for a sound library in Texas. Also finishing up mixes on Taylor Buckley's new fiddle cd and getting ready to begin mixing an album with my friend Craig Korth from Calgary. say that three times fast...

12/31/05 at home in Victor

It's the last day of 2005. Raining outside, but trying to snow. It's been a great year and I'm looking forward to an even better one ahead. My New Year's resolution is to learn more than I forget in 'O6.

I wish you all a healthy and happy new year - and please join me in praying for a vastly more peaceful one.

11/6/05  Somewhere over South Dakota

Flying home from 3 gigs in MN w/ Big Twang. My brand new cd w/ Brian Wicklund and Eric Thorin just came out last week and we had a blast playing 3 cd release concerts in St. Peter, Marine and Mpls. People seemed to enjoy our mix of new & old fiddle tunes, moody songs and funky old time bluegrass gumbo. We're looking forward to more twanging in and around Jackson Hole in early December.

MN was nice. last gasps of fall. We got in one afternoon of paddling on the St. Croix and managed not to get shot, as it was the first day of deer season.

Its been really busy in my recording studio lately - starting w/ my own two new projects: "Occupational Hazards" w/ John Lowell and the aforementioned "Big Twang" cd. I've also just finished recording & mixing Anne & Pete Sibley's new cd, "Will You Walk with Me" and mixing a live cd for the fabulous Bar J Wranglers (man, can they sing). Jackson Hole favorites, Shelley & Kelly just started a new recording and I've been having fun working on a demo w/ a great new local singer named Margo Valiante.

Weekly jams w/ my mando pal Thomas Sneed continue and I hope Owen and Sam haven't finished all the halloween candy by the time I get home.