Ben Holst smashed his first mandolin at 18 months old. After THE WHO but before Kurt Cobain.
A relative pioneer among his diaper clad peers. Word of this behavior spread slowly through the playground and sometime around 8th grade Ben finally got a call from Jeremy Gilbertson to play guitar in his band THE PREMONITION. SOLD !
<< insert numerous high school and college bands here >>
After finishing his Advertising degree at the University of Georgia, (Because it was the closest thing to a Music Business degree) Ben got his start like any aspiring music producer: tweaking the espresso console for Brendan O’Brien at Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta.
Life as a coffee engineer made for good conversation, his work and time eventually paid off with engineering credits including: Incubus, The Drive-By Truckers, Patton Oswalt, The Sammies, A Fight To The Death, Jeremy Aggers and many more label and indie stalwarts.
While nurturing the crafts of record producer, songwriter, performer, and session player, Ben maintained his alliances with his good-ol-boy advertising buddies from UGA. As an avid home studio owner and multi-instrumentalist Ben quickly became a go-to guy for custom music production, voiceover and anything audio. If Music and Advertising is a shotgun marriage, then Ben Holst is the Justice of the Peace.
As chance would have it, growth challenges and volume were met with encouragement and direction from an old and talented friend. Re-enter Jeremy Gilbertson and the birthing of Tunewelder Music Group, LLC.
Experiences in the Athens/Atlanta recording community most recently took Holst to Nashville where he continues to work as a session musician and demo producer for Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Past Sony/ATV clients include Bill Anderson, Curly Putman, Leslie Satcher and Jim Lauderdale, Bill Luther, Tony Lane, Dean Dillon, Jamie O'Hara, and Tom Douglas.
As a player, Ben has been featured on studio recordings with notable artists and players such as Morris Pleasure, David LaBruyere, Jimmy Herring, Dave Schools, Jeff Mosier, David Blackmon, John Neff, Marty Kearns, Jon Roberts, Herb Avery, Josh Day, and Fred Vigdor.
Ben’s album credits often include: electric or acoustic 6, 12 string guitars, baritone guitar, lap steel, Dobro, pedal steel, 5 String, fretless, and upright bass, mandolin, erhu, Hammond organ, piano, banjo, fiddle, harmonica and harmony vocals.
