Ben Arthur’s eighth album is American Castles, which continues Ben’s exploration of “answer songs” and art-inspired collaboration. “Young Dead” was co-written with author George Saunders, while other songs on the album were written in response to stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Patricia Lockwood, and Susan Orlean. The song “Ordinary Times” was composed almost entirely out of direct quotations from White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Ben is also a producer and the host of the Emmy-nominated video series SongCraft Presents. In each episode Ben writes and records a song with a featured artist over the course of a day. Guests have included My Brightest Diamond, John Wesley Harding, Vienna Teng, Lera Lynn, Ximena Sarinana, and others. Two full-length episodes have aired on PBS, earning three Emmy nominations. Ben has released seven previous albums and two novels, and has shared the stage with artists including Dave Matthews, Tori Amos, Bruce Hornsby, Shawn Colvin, and Toots and the Maytals. Ben has licensed songs to ABC, CBS, PBS, Showtime, and Lifetime. On Pandora Ben’s songs have logged 2 million plays.