Ben Sures

Ben Sures (born December 29, 1967) is a Canadian roots musician who was a contributor to CBC Radio's The Irrelevant Show.

Early life He is the son of ceramic artist Jack Sures and painter and illustrator Deborah Uman-Sures.

A mostly-self-taught musician, Sures discovered the music of Robert Johnson at age 15 and devoted himself to the study of blues and roots.

Career He spent close to a decade as an itinerant street musician and more than 20 years touring the Canadian coffee house and festival circuit both as a solo headliner and as a sideman for blues musicians such as Harp Dog Brown, Rita Chiarelli and Paul Reddick. In 2006, he won the adult alternative album category of the International Songwriting Competition for the song, "Any Precious Girl".

His album, Gone to Bolivia made Now'''s Best of the Year lists in 2011, and contained the song "Columbus Sailed Here", in which Sures observes the transformation of third-world countries due to cruise ship tourism. Other notable examples of Sures' style are found on "High School Steps", on which he performs a tribute to Ray Davies of the Kinks by reflecting on the life of high school musicians who saw Davies as their idol.

Sures was the resident musician on CBC Radio's The Irrelevant Show. He has been featured on CBC Radio's “Daybreak Alberta”, “Unreserved” CBC Canada / “Radioactive,” “Canada Live,” “Madly Off in all Directions,” and “Key of A”. Sures has also been featured on CKUA Radio's "The Celtic Show" and "Lunchbox with Grant Stovel" and reached the #1 place on the station's Top 30 in 2022.

Ben has toured extensively across Canada and held long-standing residencies at several major folk festivals, including the Winnipeg Folk Music Festival (1988-2003), Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury (2000-2019), the Islands Folk Festival in Duncan, BC (1997-2019), and the Brandon Folk Music Festival (1998-2014). Other notable recurring festival performances include the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (2003-2009), The Fillberg Festival in Comox (2004-2019), Edmonton Street Performer's Festival (2010-2014), Edmonton Jazz Festival (2011), Bear Creek Folk Festival (2016) and Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival residency in Toronto (2015-2020).

His side projects include The Death Ballad Love Tellers, a song circle with fellow underground folk singers David P. Smith and Buba Uno, in which the performers challenge themselves to write murder ballads and perform them on stage.

Discography