Just wanted to remind you about all the great places you can stay up to date with what's going on!

The album is online, on the website, and ON iTUNES!

The Website www.BenDeignan.com is BRAND NEW and chock full of info like tour dates, community links, merchandise, and FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS.

The Official iPhone/iPod Touch APP is out and been flying off the virtual shelves, best of all it is FREE!

twitter.com/BenDeignan
BenDeignan.blogspot.com
BenDeignan.com
youtube.com/BenDeignan
vimeo.com/bendeignan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z8uIe2DEPY

My version of Lady Gaga's, "Poker Face."

Click the link to download "Touch" live at Eddies Attic: http://www.sendspace.com/file/jqjoqk

I'm very serious! Me and the boys of Suburban Soul are making it our goal to give you a hot bed of entertainment daily when you visit our myspace, blog site (bendeignan.blogspot.com), facebook fan page, twitter, etc. We will also be launching new sites later this year, so stay posted.

Anyways, down to business. Weekly we will be posting free music downloads. Sometimes several tracks at a time.

Also, check out the February episode of our tour:


More to come, so stay posted daily!

Cheers,

Ben

Young Atlanta singer earns respect by hard work
Ben Deignan’s first album didn’t come from ‘American Idol’
By RICHARD L. ELDREDGE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, February 03, 2009

At age 8, Atlanta singer songwriter Ben Deignan unearthed his family’s record player. He dropped the needle on an aged album and listened to “Cool It Now” for the first time. A surge went through him.

“New Edition was my gateway drug to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye,” the 22-year-old says.

Ben Deignan says, ‘I realized that my life had been a little too peachy. So I went out and got myself banged up a little’ for better songs.

Although some of his peers see “American Idol” as their golden ticket to stardom, Deignan isn’t sold on the pop music processed cheese food.

“I don’t have a fascination with fame,” he explained over coffee last weekend, hours before his sold-out album-release party at the Hard Rock Café downtown.

“Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy watching ‘American Idol,’ ” Deignan said. “But success and respect are important to me. It’s tough for me to respect ‘American Idol.’ “

With a lot of old-fashioned hard work, Deignan and his band, Suburban Soul, are gaining that respect.

His self-titled debut is now available at iTunes and is on its way to online retailers Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. Decatur CD also plans to stock it. New York City’s WRXP-FM program director and former 99X exec Leslie Fram is a fan.

Atlanta vocal coach Jan Smith, who’s helped Usher and Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas polish their pipes, began working with Deignan when he was 15.

Smith co-produced Deignan’s brand new album and, for the first time, has signed an artist to a production deal out of her Jan Smith Studios Inc. Growing up in the South, mesmerized by Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson, Smith recognized something in Deignan early on.

“Ben brings the swagger,” Smith says. “He has a James Brown heart beating in that little itty bitty white body of his.”

In addition to voice and guitar work, Smith would also “beat down” Deignan’s early sub-par songs when he brought them in.

“And every time, Ben would come back and the next draft would be better.”

Smith pops in a copy of “Ben Deignan” and the opening notes of his bossa nova-tinged ballad “Touch” fills her office.

Deignan sings: “Lights go down in my room / I find myself alone and thinking of you / Your picture’s on my bed / It’s right beside your perfume / I keep your scent around / Too many games I played / I lost you but the feeling’s still the same / My heart bursts when I just speak your name.”

Smith turns off the song. She repeats the lines out loud and shakes her head.

“What woman wouldn’t want to feel that?” Smith says. “Ben wrote that when he was 17. When he brings in gems like that, it just sends me.”

Another female favorite in the Deignan catalog?

“Sexy Black Dress,” a slinky selection about seeing your ex out with a new boy and wearing the frock you bought her.

Just to make you crazy.

Deignan says a breakup inspired the song.

“I dig the character-building experiences,” he says laughingly. “Why not talk about it? You can get a lot of great material out of a bad breakup. When I first started writing, I had nothing to say. I realized that my life had been a little too peachy. So I went out and got myself banged up a little. My songs got a lot better.”

Collective Soul front man Ed Roland, an early fan, was at the Hard Rock on Saturday night to lend his support.

“There’s an energy that just pours out of him,” Roland reflected. “He has confidence without arrogance, which is a really difficult thing to balance. I saw a rock star up there tonight.”

As “Ben Deignan” arrives in stores, the singer and his band realize they have a lot of late nights ahead of them out on the road introducing folks to his music.

“I feel ready,” he says.

“Hopefully, we can live up to the hype and all the faith that people have put in us. I want us to get to the level where people in Atlanta are proud to say, ‘That’s our boy, Ben.’ “

http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/stories/2009/02/03/deignan_singer_debut.html

Like it or not. Ben Deignan is walking in some big footsteps
by Chris Welch
The Huntsville Times
Thursday, January 29, 2009

Ben Deignan is probably not a name many around here are familiar with, unless you caught him and his band Suburban Soul at last year's Big Spring Jam or Humphrey's Bar & Grill.

But the folks in Atlanta are really high on this guy.

"The buzz about Ben Deignan is blanketing the metro area like sausage gravy on a big fluffy biscuit. John Mayer was getting this kind of chatter back when he played as a virtual unknown, so catch Deignan on the way up," is the way the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described him.

The Journal-Constitution continued to spew praise on him in its now-defunct Peach Buzz mag:

"Deignan's set took us back to the days when we piled into Eddie's Attic to watch a young John Mayer trying out his latest compositions."

Comparisons to John Mayer?

No pressure, right?

"Why the Constitution is giving me the John Mayer thing is because he jump-started his career in Atlanta," said Deignan, who is performing tonight at Crossroads and having a debut CD release party. "When he was 22, he was playing all the same clubs I am and I know a lot of the cats he knew and played with.

"So, whether I wanted to or not, I'm kind of walking in some of his footsteps. And Atlanta is looking for the next John Mayer. Atlanta is a very important urban market - look at all the guys who have hit it big here. But as far as singer-songwriter, other than Shawn Mullins, there hasn't really been anybody."

"Whatever triggers their curiosity, that's beautiful."

Deignan said he's the same age as Mayer when he started his rise in Atlanta, but that's really where the similarities end. Well, other than "I'm a white guy with dark hair," he said, laughing.

"We have a different sound," Deignan said. "Mine is more rock and soul driven and his is more the singer/songwriter spectrum."

Deignan grew up on heavy doses of soul and R&B by groups like The Temptations and Marvin Gaye, but it wasn't until he saw U2 in Philips Arena that he really knew what he wanted to do.

"I was 15 years old and had never seen a concert before," Deignan said. "My dad took me to this U2 concert and I'll never forget how the adrenaline was pumping through my body while I was watching the reaction of 20,000 people.

"It was one of the most moving experiences I'd ever had, and I decided then my goal: 'I've got to find a way to reach people with something of that magnitude.' "

Deignan got a break when he was discovered while playing a party for his dad's office. Vocal producer Jan Smith, who has worked with the likes of Usher, Rob Thomas and Ciara, signed him to a development and production deal. He opened for Blues Traveler two years ago and lead singer John Popper was impressed.

"He's mother truckin' awesome," Popper said.

http://www.al.com/music/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1233224171239070.xml&coll=1

Atlanta's Ben Deignan celebrates his CD
Ben Deignan: "Ben Deignan"
By Kim Burdges
Special to Metromix Atlanta
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

On Saturday night, Ben Deignan will mark the release of his new self-titled CD with a party at the Hard Rock Cafe’s Velvet Underground. Deignan has plenty of reasons to celebrate, because his new full-length album is a great showcase of his sexy soulful voice. Many have compared Deignan to another young musician who once rocked Atlanta’s local music scene: John Mayer.

Although Deignan and Mayer both credit soul singers like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as influences, Deignan does a better job of channeling those greats through his relaxed but powerful vocals and a full band backing his every note. Where Mayer might use his masterful blues guitar skills to invoke emotion, Deignan uses his well-honed pipes and a band full of Robert-Randolph-type riffs.

Deignan’s sound might be a little funkier than most, but it is remarkably fresh and mainstream. Whether you are a fan of pop, rock, soul or R&B, you will find a new favorite on this album. While “Oh” and “Sorry is Not Enough” infuse pop and funk, “Touch” shows off Deignan’s slower R&B side with an almost lazy beach-type quality. With the complete package of looks, stage presence and polished tracks, we will soon be lamenting about how we knew Deignan when. Be sure to catch this local star while you still can.

http://atlanta.metromix.com/music/cd_review/atlantas-ben-deignan-celebrates/918175/content

The debut full length album is now available on iTunes!!!


http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=301257647&s=143441

We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it, and playing it live. Produced by Jan Smith and Huston Singletary.

Ben Deignan's self-titled debut album is now available for ordering through the web store! CDs are being manufactured, and we're offering fans a chance to be the first to order copies ahead of the release at a special price. Expected ship date is January 26, 2009.

Follow the link or click the album cover graphic below to order from the web store and pay via PayPal:

http://bendeignan.bigcartel.com/product/ben-deignan-self-titled-debut-album-pre-sale



Song listing:
1. Palm Of Your Hand
2. Oh
3. Sexy Black Dress
4. Touch
5. Shut Up
6. He Don't Have To Know
7. Last Time
8. Fault Line
9. Sorry's Not Enough
10. No Strings Attached
11. Get You Alone
12. Have Me To Yourself

Nine artists to look out for in 2009: Ben Deignan
by Kelley Hagen
Metromix Atlanta
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The phrase, "it takes a village" applies to team Deignan. This young talent has converted music heavy weights, such as Matt Pinfield, Leslie Fram and Jan Smith, to help pave his way to stardom. By playing out constantly and having an uncanny ability to make the ladies swoon, Deignan has received local support reminiscent of Grammy winning predecessor John Mayer. The ground work he has laid in 2008 is sure to pay off in the new year.

http://atlanta.metromix.com/music/photogallery/nine-artists-to-look/859949/content