Ben Vaughn

Retro-rocker Ben Vaughn has attracted a loyal following for his faithful re-creations of pre-Beatles rock & roll, pop, and roots music, all of which are filtered through his quirky sense of humor. Vaughn is a musical omnivore, and his work runs the gamut from engaging upbeat rock (1985's The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn and 1987's Beautiful Thing) and glossy instrumental retro-pop (1995's Instrumental Stylings and 2006's Designs in Music) to futuristic rockabilly (1996's Cubist Blues, a collaboration with Alan Vega and Alex Chilton), Tex-Mex rock & roll (2014's Texas Road Trip), spare acoustic performances (2018's Imitation Wood Grain & Other Folk Songs), and jangly roots rock (2026's Magnetic East, a collaboration with Deer Tick). The common threads that unite his work are his love of a catchy melody, deep respect for talented instrumentalists, a sense of humor that doesn't drown out human emotions, and a freewheeling willingness to experiment. Born in New Jersey, Ben Vaughn grew up in Philadelphia and joined his first band in 1980, playing drums in the local punk band the Sickidz. Two years later, roots rockers the Morells recorded his composition "The Man Who Has Everything" on their acclaimed Shake and Push album. Vaughn began playing around Philadelphia with a band dubbed the Ben Vaughn Combo, gradually branching out into other parts of the Northeast. His first album, The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn, was released in 1986 on the U.K. imprint Making Waves and shortly thereafter was licensed for American release by Restless Records. It received enthusiastic reviews, and Marshall Crenshaw covered Vaughn's "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)" on his Downtown album. Vaughn's second LP, Beautiful Thing, appeared in 1987, again to positive response, and he signed a permanent deal with Restless; after its release, the Combo elected to disband, and Vaughn became a true solo artist. Blows Your Mind was released in 1988, and its 1990 follow-up, Dressed in Black, featured guest appearances by Crenshaw, John Hiatt, the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, Alex Chilton, and country duo Foster & Lloyd. In the meantime, Vaughn's interest in musical history led to some side gigs as a compiler and producer. He helped assemble retrospective releases from the Johnny Otis and Joe South catalogs and produced albums by cult legends Charlie Feathers and Arthur Alexander, among others. He also scored two documentary films, Favorite Mopar (about muscle cars) and Wild Girls Go Go Rama, and spent some time in Nashville writing songs with Rodney Crowell and Bill Lloyd. In the meantime, Restless issued the compilation Mood Swings in 1992. Vaughn's next recording was a covers album, Mono USA, which appeared on Bar/None in 1994. He followed it in 1995 with Instrumental Stylings, an eclectic album that incorporated bits of his film scores, and a collaborative effort with Kim Fowley dubbed Kings of Saturday Night. Thanks in part to Instrumental Stylings, he was tapped to compose the surf-style theme song for the TV sitcom Third Rock from the Sun and wound up winning a composer's award from BMI for it. Most of the music from Instrumental Stylings was ultimately featured on the show at one time or another. Vaughn went on to serve as music director for That '70s Show as well and returned with a new album in 1997. Rambler 65 was recorded on an eight-track studio set up in Vaughn's vintage car of the same name. He returned in 2006 with Designs in Music, a collection of film themes for movies that exist only in Vaughn's imagination. The archival collection The Prehistoric Ben Vaughn followed in 2007, and that same year, he released three volumes of Vaughn Sings Vaughn, a series in which he recorded new interpretations of songs from his back catalog along with a smattering of new material. In 2014, he headed west with Texas Road Trip, a collection of original tunes recorded with a band of Lone Star legends, including Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet. In 2018, Vaughn pared his music down to the bone with the album Imitation Wood Grain & Other Folk Songs, in which the songwriter was accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar. The members of the eclectic Rhode Island band Deer Tick were longtime Ben Vaughn fans, having covered his "Too Sensitive For This World" on their 2019 odds-and-sods collection Mayonnaise. In time, Vaughn and Deer Tick decided it would be fun to collaborate, and he joined the band at guitarist and singer John McCauley's studio, where the band handled the music and Vaughn, for the first time, just sang. The sessions resulted in 2026's Magnetic East, which included backing vocals from Vanessa Carlton, of "A Thousand Miles" fame; McCauley had little trouble recruiting her for the project, since they happen to be married. ~ Steve Huey & Mark Deming, Rovi