Ball and Chain: Album release and dance, dance, dance

Jeff Green | Nov 05, 2014

Ball and Chain is the cheeky band name for the irrepressible singer/songwriter/guitarist Jody Benjamin and her fiddle player and singer husband, Michael Ball. Ball and Chain mix two great musical loves in their music, country dance music and contemporary Cajun music.

They have released four albums containing original tunes sprinkled in with songs by Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and contemporaries like Julie Miller and Steve Earl, as well as an album of Cajun tunes, "Louisiana Love Bug".

The sixth release from Ball and Chain "Surrender" is their first to include all original songs. This is how the album is described on the website cdbaby: “Their love of hard core Honky Tonk is evident but here they feature songs with a wide range of styles. There is a love song for the prairie skies of Jody Benjamin's home province of Saskatchewan, a simple classic country waltz, a rockin' murder story song and a couple of Cajun-style fiddle tunes. The title track is a philosophical advice song for control freaks.

“The instrumentation varies as well. Some songs are simple guitar, fiddle, bass and drums while others feature electric guitar, pedal steel, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ and there's even a jaw harp intro to one of the fiddle tunes. This band always keeps the dancer in mind and their live performances always have full dance floors.”

They will be bringing the music from Surrender, and much more to the Agricultural Hall in McDonalds Corners on November 15. Accompanied by their band, the Wreckers, they will conduct Cajun 2 step and waltz lessons starting at 8pm. The band starts up at 9pm. There will be a cash bar to benefit the McDonalds Corners Agricultural Society. Admission is $15.