Ben Harper - Give Till It's Gone

Ben Harper's tenth studio album. With "Rock N' Roll Is Free," the album's first single, Harper pays tribute to an audacious art form that continually challenges the status quo, demanding that we look at the world in "a brand new way." The song was inspired by rock legend Neil Young, whom Harper opened for in London last summer. Young's mesmerizing performance of "Rockin' in the Free World" planted seeds of a new song in Harper's mind, compelling him to go straight back to his room after the show and write "Rock N' Roll Is Free." The incident is emblematic of the kind of urgency with which the new album was forged. Harper recorded most of Give Till It's Gone - his first solo record since 2006's Both Sides Of The Gun - at the Los Angeles studio of Jackson Browne, who harmonizes with him on the wistful "Pray That Our Love Sees The Dawn." The album also features two tracks co-written with Ringo Starr - the exuberant, psychedelic-tinged "Spilling Faith" and "Get There From Here," an improvised instrumental. Starr, who also plays drums on the songs, tapped Harper for his 2010 album, Y Not.