Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Ben Ransom, Country Rocks Records 2022.
Ben Ransom has been around the local country music scene for some time, first coming to the attention of the listening public with his debut single Bourbon & Sunsets which was released in 2011.
It peaked at number two in the Country Top 50 chart and Ben was nominated for three awards at the Australian Independent Artists Awards of that year.
Ben is a graduate of the CMAA Academy of Country Music and also a three times finalist in the much-coveted Toyota Star Maker Competition.
He’s released four studio albums and one live album to date with his latest album, Brave New World (2021), reaching number three in the Australian Country Charts.
Ben was actually the first artist signed to the Country Rocks label back in 2017 and his single Let’s Go Driving topped the charts holding top spot for six consecutive weeks.
Hold Me Tonight is his latest single and it’s a beautifully polished song.
The production values are excellent and the song is well written and constructed.
It builds on his desire, voiced when being interviewed about Brave New World, to avoid the usual “cookie cutter cliches and sounds that have become a staple of country music.”
He has mostly achieved his stated aim however, there is still the obligatory peddle-steel guitar to remind us that we are listening to a country song, otherwise he has written a beautiful main-stream love ballad.
Ben’s strength is his excellent voice, he has one of the best voices in Australian country music.
It was particularly notable in his Brave New World album which is impressive.
While the songs are strong, it’s his delivery that grabbed my attention.
I felt that he could sing the phonebook and sound good and this single is no exception.
Other people have noted his talent because he’s been selected to open for many luminaries of the Australian and international music scenes, including Tim McGraw, Diesel, Daryl Braithwaite, Mental as Anything, Ian Moss, Richard Clapton, Eurogliders, The Angels, The Church and many more.
Give Hold Me Tight a listen, it’s a good song.
