Ben Watson
Ben Watson is an LDS music artist who resides in Montana with his wife and four kids. He views music as a key that holds the power to change lives and strengthen souls. For him, the power of music isn’t so much in what a person hears as it is what a person feels.
As a young man growing up on a farm in Montana, Ben joined the Army National Guard as a junior in high school and later served an LDS mission in the Australia Brisbane Mission (2000-2002). These experiences helped forge in him a desire to travel the world, which he later did as a performer and researcher—making lifelong friends all along the way.
As a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), Ben performed throughout the world with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. As part of that experience, he was also awarded a research grant to study folk/bush music in Australia. He later completed his master’s degree at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
His oldest daughter Liberty was born two months early (she was due Christmas Day, but arrived in October). After two difficult months at Primary Children’s Hospital and multiple surgeries, she was finally able to come home just in time for Christmas. She is the one illustrating the nativity scene in the video “Stars Were Gleaming/The First Noel.”
Besides being a musician, Ben Watson is a wildland firefighter, teacher, and father. He believes strongly that some of the most powerful musical moments are found in simple, calm arrangements. His version of “Stars Were Gleaming/The First Noel” is evidence of this. Most of his other arrangements follow that same principle.
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