Benny Bleu spent a decade making ‘When I Am A Fossil’, and the patience shows in every note. The New York-based banjo player, songwriter, and former environmental geologist announces his debut album arriving June 5th, a deeply personal and philosophically rich collection of songs shaped by years spent witnessing, as Bleu puts it, “the residue of man’s progress.” The result is one of the most quietly ambitious folk records of 2026, rooted in the Anthropocene and asking a question that lingers long after the music stops: how might a scientist from the deep future know we were here?
The album bridges old-time banjo traditions with jazz phrasing, global rhythms, and modern sonic exploration across a concept record anchored in climate change, mortality, and resilience. Recorded live to tape over four days in Pennsylvania with collaborators Gus Tritsch, Huck Tritsch, Eric Heveron-Smith, and Katie Martucci, the record captures ensemble interplay and spontaneity that ten years of careful crafting has not smoothed away. It feels immediate and unhurried at the same time, equally at home on a front porch or in a late-night philosophical spiral.
Bleu’s background as an environmental geologist gives the album a grounding that most folk records simply cannot access. His work took him not to mountains and lakes but to gas stations and factories, and that specific, unglamorous perspective on human impact gives ‘When I Am A Fossil’ a moral weight that never tips into preachiness. The title track channels that perspective into something genuinely haunting, a meditation on deep time that manages to feel both vast and intimate. This is the kind of debut that announces a distinctive artistic voice fully formed and worth following closely.
A 2026 tour supports the release, mixing intimate solo sets with full band performances across the East Coast and beyond, including a full band release show at Bop Shop Records in Rochester on June 6th and a Caffe Lena appearance in Saratoga Springs on May 3rd. ‘When I Am A Fossil’ is available for pre-order now ahead of its June 5th release.
2026 Tour Dates:
April 10 – Rochester, NY – Little Theatre
April 17 – Frostburg, MD – Clatter Cafe (w/ Dakota Karper)
April 18 – Westminster, MD – Common Ground Downtown (w/ Dakota Karper)
April 19 – Naples, NY – Hollerhorn Distilling
May 3 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena (full band)
June 6 – Rochester, NY – Bop Shop Records (full band)
June 13 – Rochester, NY – Abilene (full band)
June 14 – Naples, NY – Hollerhorn Distilling (full band)
September 20 – Walton, NY – Music on the Delaware
November 12 – Soquel, CA – Ugly Mug
November 16 – Portland, OR – Hostel Cafe