Benji

The driving creative force behind the folk-rock ensemble BENJI remains vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter John Charlton. Fellow guitarists and singers Tannis Slimmon and Steve Woeller round out the lineup, with Slimmon doubling on mandolin and Woeller occasionally adding harmonica. Formed in 1997, the trio issued a pair of full-length albums prior to the turn of the millennium and has also appeared under the name John Charlton and BENJI.

Charlton launched work on his debut project that same year inside his Guelph, Ontario residence. What began as a modest effort to lay down a handful of tracks for a holiday gift to relatives and acquaintances soon expanded once Slimmon and Woeller contributed their voices and instruments. By the project’s completion, the original limited intention had evolved into a commercially released CD, imperfections intact. Issued in 1997 on the DROG Records imprint, the recording took the band’s own name, BENJI, as its title.

A follow-up collection, BENJI II, arrived in 1999. The thirteen-song set features the tracks “In My Time of Dying,” “Searches in the Night,” “Won’t Live You Down,” “Lend Me a Moment,” and “Five Senses.”