Grand Rapids Press Review: Jeff Daniels and son Ben show stellar musicianship during Rockford concert

By John Serba
August 17, 2014

ROCKFORD, MI – When Jeff Daniels performs with his son, singer/guitarist Ben Daniels, he’s as serious a musician as a funny man can be.

Typically, a Jeff Daniels concert is a solo affair, or features minimal accompaniment. Saturday night at the Rockford Fine Arts Auditorium, he fronted a five-piece group that gave his songs rootsy texture and frequent flashes of brilliant musicianship. Sure, Daniels is positioned at center stage, is an Emmy-winning actor and is the guy everyone came to see, but he frequently stepped back and became another member of the Ben Daniels Band, showing an emphasis on song and performance over his celebrity personality.

Daniels – who lives in Chelsea, and is famous for TV’s “The Newsroom” and many movies, including “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Squid and the Whale” – had no problem nudging the spotlight elsewhere during the two-hour show, split into two sets with an intermission. The audience seemed fine with that, often cheering mid-song after guitarist George Merkel played a fiery or emotive guitar solo – or when backing vocalist Amanda Merte took the lead, for a delicated faded-love ballad, “Back When You Were Into Me.”

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