Mother Country

is a modern roots band founded by singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Benton Roark, whose songs have been described as “backwoods-choir elegance”  (The Georgia Straight), “dirty-southern-gothic rock-country-folk” (Discorder Magazine), and “an  experience of deep and darkling beauty” (The Austin Chronicle).

Since leaving his hometown of Atlanta, GA (“a crafty folk-experimentalist,” Creative Loafing), Roark has called New York, Vancouver, St. John’s, and Toronto home, and has been a bandleader for a number of groups: the Benton Roark Band (“magisterial” The Vancouver Sun), Arkora, whose Songs from the Rainshadow’s Edge earned him a Western Canadian Music Awards nomination for composition of the year, and Rollaway, whose last two records - Modern Epic and The Return of the Lonesome Coyote Patchwork Pulpit (“tone poems in the style of My Morning Jacket,” Maverick Magazine) in many ways set the scene for Mother Country’s inception.

Taking up the Americana and Southern gothic mantle, and weaving it with the distinct threads of traditional folk music and visionary work of maritimes poet Luke Hathaway, Mother Country set out in 2024 with its debut record, The Sign of Jonas (Milltown Records). An apocalypse folk-tale, a concept album, a compendium of rounds, calls and responses, incantations, airy ballads, and floor-stompers alike, the Jonas song cycle has been presented by English Harbour Arts, 10C Guelph, Camber Arts, Bannerman Brewing, and Halifax Central Library, and has spent a number of weeks in the top ten Earshot radio charts in its first few months of existence. 

Roark makes his home in Toronto, bringing local collaborators Andrew Ivens (dobro, pedal steel), Phil Albert (bass), Luke Hathaway (poetry/lyrics), and Dan Cabena (voice, fiddle) into the Mother Country fold, as well as those further afield: Georgians Peden Young (vocals, electric guitar), Dean Leeper (vocals,  banjo), Trey Gibbs (vocals, mandolin), and Scott Glaser (bass), and Newfoundlanders Carole Bestvater (vocals, violin), Sandy  Morris (dobro), Josh Ward (bass), and Tiber Reardon (electric guitar).

contact: benton [at] bentonroark.com