Ben De La Cour

Ben De La Cour

Photography by Andy Muscroft

“A friend took me to see Ben de la Cour at a little hole-in-the-wall in Nashville. It didn’t take long to realize I was in the presence of greatness. He has much to say, and knows how to say it as only a true poet can. You owe it to yourself to check him out. He is important. You need this bright young talent now more than ever. We all need Ben de la Cour.” – Lucinda Williams

A natural storyteller, Ben de la Cour’s visceral songwriting grabs you by the heart and doesn’t let go. Weaving evocative stories of desperate characters with his signature “Americanoir” sound, de la Cour shines a glaring light on the human condition.

His latest release, New Roses, received “★★★★” from MOJO and was named Album of the Month. While Ben’s previous album Sweet Anhedonia felt like ”the American heartland witnessed through the window of a car going 80mph” (American Songwriter), New Roses feels like being stuffed into the trunk and driven into an imploding star. The record is a singular and personal vision, with de la Cour playing nearly every instrument and delivering his strongest vocal performance yet. The result is a razor-sharp album full of what he calls “night songs”— haunting, impactful songs that feel like the witching hour. In a collection of songs filled with juxtaposition and duality, de la Cour balances doom and optimism, seeking out kernels of hope in the darkness.

While much has been written of the darkness that permeates de la Cour’s music, he finds this emphasis exaggerated: “It is an optimistic record,” he says of New Roses. “You can’t be hopeful if you’re not willing to acknowledge the spectrum of the human condition. You can be overwhelmed by beauty and you can be overwhelmed by the horrors and you can be overwhelmed by both.” De la Cour remains an optimist, hopeful that his tales can help the lost, the lonely, the doomed. New Roses finds this balance and acceptance in the dualities of life, ringing true for anyone who has ever felt the need for both light and darkness—for anyone who has learned the hard way that one cannot exist without the other.

Raised in Brooklyn, de la Cour lived in London, Cuba and across the United States before making his home in the American south over a decade and a half ago. Drawing on inspiration from writers and musicians alike—Townes Van Zandt, Jimi Hendrix, Nick Cave, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen, James Baldwin and Carson McCullers among them—de la Cour’s gothic folk songs are as heartbreaking as they are beautiful.

After touring the UK and Ireland extensively as special guest opener at the personal request of Americana legend Lucinda Williams throughout early 2026, Ben de la Cour returned this April to embark on his third and most extensive headline tour of the UK and Ireland yet. The years of sustained touring and exposure to Lucinda's audiences resulted in numerous sold-out shows, especially in Ireland where Ben's deep-thinking craftsmanship of song have struck an ancient chord.

An invitation to some of the most revered UK & EU Americana festivals will see a second leg of the tour commence in July along with further UK dates, debut headline shows in Germany and extensive touring across Spain.

You will not soon forget this name, Ben de la Cour.

Territory: EU & UK