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Ben Harper's new album Winter Is For Lovers unfolds entirely without words. It is a profoundly emotional story told exclusively through the nuance of sound. The narration is provided by a single lap-steel guitar and the music references blues and folk as well as flamenco, Indian and classical, but it transcends any specific style. In that, the album philosophically evokes the American Primitive movement pioneered by John Fahey and Leo Kottke, utilizing masterful playing to create an impressionistic and affecting work.

Meditative and affecting, the music featured on Winter Is For Lovers is deeply ingrained in Harper's DNA and leads directly back to The Folk Music Store, which has hosted luminaries of all stripes, including Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, the Rev. Gary Davis, Doc Watson and John Fahey. While Harper worked in the shop throughout his childhood, he met iconic players like Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal, David Lindley and Jackson Browne. Winter Is For Lovers is filled with the music Harper heard growing up, listening to the blues, Hawaiian and classical guitar masters in his mother's record collection. He gravitated early on to the distinct wail of the slide guitar, learning finger picking from the great Taj Mahal and later studying with Chris Darrow of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - a lap steel virtuoso who had a major influence on Harper's lifelong embrace of the instrument.

Harper has pushed musical boundaries since his 1994 debut and his lap steel guitar has played a tremendous role in his distinct sound throughout his career. But he's never made an album that so purely distills his reverence for the instrument, and his mastery of it. As Harper explains, "Hopefully it cuts deep enough where people can see their own experiences in the music."