Ben Sures

Born December 29, 1967, Ben is the son of Order of Canada-winning ceramic artist Jack Sures and painter and illustrator Deborah Uman-Sures. A Canadian roots musician, he is the resident musician on CBC Radio’s The Irrelevant Show, and has been a contributor to both the CBC Radio's "Madly Off In All Directions" and "The Round Up" with Bill Richardson. A mostly-self-taught musician, Sures discovered the music of Robert Johnson at fifteen and devoted himself to the study of blues and roots. 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. He also won the folk category of the 2005 John Lennon Song Competition, with the song "Any Precious Girl". 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. As well, Ben is a founding member of Edmonton band "The Dead Stringer".