Benmont Tench
Benmont Tench
Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench IIIis an American keyboardist best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth7 September 1953
CountryUnited States of America
damn good life playing spent tom
I've spent most of my life playing with Tom Petty, and he's a damn good songwriter.
calls good heard hired played playing secret somebody whoever
Whoever hired me might've just heard 'Refugee.' Well, I'm not the secret to 'Refugee.' The secret to 'Refugee' is the song. But if somebody really good calls me up to play on something because they like the way I played on 'Refugee,' then I wind up playing on another really good song.
artist bring express good help listen musician session showing song stepping
What a good session musician does is listen to the song, to the artist, and to the other players. That way you can help bring out the song and help the artist express what they want to express. It's never about you stepping out and showing you can play something fancy.
enjoy good hang joy nashville time
I did enjoy Nashville a lot of the time, because I made really good friends who were really good songwriters, and they would be a joy to hang out with.
period
There was a period when I wrote in Nashville for Maverick and then Warner/Chappell, and it was interesting.
attention guys hands liked turned
I never liked the showboat guys who called attention to themselves, who turned the Leslie on and waved their hands up in the air.
great mike producers recognized shared songs tom
We've had producers who've all shared at least one thing. They've all recognized that Tom and Mike write great songs and that's what it's about.
soul rubber holding-on
I loved Mal Evans holding one note down on You Won't See Me from Rubber Soul.
night feet looks
I'm playing 10 feet from Mike Campbell every night. I look across the stage, there's Howie. Tom's in the middle and we're playing all this stuff I love. It's great.
sound impossible jimmy
Fortunately, as we all know, it's impossible for anybody but Jimmy Smith to really sound like Jimmy Smith.
couple play special
I got to play on a couple of records with the Rolling Stones, and that was really special to me.
bob dylan
I loved working with Bob Dylan.
thinking
I think we've always been better live.
song moving trying
I try to find little things that you can do to move the song along and things that serve the song.