Theresa Bentley Interview #2 - The Final on Vinyl Podcast

Great conversation with Theresa Bentley about The Bentley Project’s upcoming release, Blossoming of Ancient Beauty.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:14

Hi everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast, and today we are with Theresa Bentley of the Bentley Project. And they are getting ready to release Blossoming of Ancient Beauty on January 16th of the new year. Welcome back.

Speaker 0:34

Hi Keith. Yes, it's exciting to be back.

Speaker 2 0:38

So I enjoyed your album. And uh one of the things that you folks said about it was uh that it offers light in the darkness, delivering hope and transformation through your music, which I totally get after listening to the music. But what I'm wondering is, in your own words, uh how would you tell potential listeners how that would translate for them?

Speaker 1:05

Well, as I was writing the album this year, um, and it seems like you know the world is so divisive that um I didn't even know I was doing this, but I started writing the music and realizing each song as I was writing almost became like a coping mechanism or a coping idea. And um just to calm myself and um just try to deal with the world around us, and then started realizing that as I was doing this, like breeze, for example, is like okay, just slow down, take a deep breath, and then um realm of the crystal room, it was like just find your heaven, find whatever makes you happy and what's good for you. So it's like it was a in this darkness, each track ended up being a hopeful therapeutic way to just lift your spirit. Wisdom. I I'm calling it a wisdom album album.

Speaker 1 2:06

Okay, that makes sense. I like the cover art too.

Speaker 2 2:12

Um I was wondering how you came up with that cover art and if that does look like a real person and it was just modified with current tools today to give it that look. Is that correct or is it something else?

Speaker 2:27

Well, it's um so I I'm with Wayfarer Music Group and Dieter, which you may know him, Dieter Spears. Um, he's one of the owners and also our graphic artists. And I just gave him the ideas of the album, the titles of the album, and um I I do I knew I wanted a woman um because this is a very vulnerable album for me, and it's um kind of what's inside my heart and the goodness and the the hope and the love and the light that I want to spread. So I knew I wanted a female um contemplating and thinking about it and feeling things. And so I gave him the titles, I gave him my feelings, and he's the one that came up with this. So I think he did a fabulous job.

Speaker 2 3:12

Yeah, I love it. I love it. It's got an ethereal feel to it and the right colors too. I like the blend of like this like turquoise and uh orange, like the orange is like rust giving it like a patina.

Speaker 3:29

Right.

Speaker 2 3:29

Very cool, very cool. I like that.

Speaker 3:32

I love it. I think he just did a wonderful job, and he really captured as I was listening to my album and looking at the cover art that he sent to me, I just like every single one of them, he incorporated all the different titles, which of course I sent the titles to him. So I think he just masterfully uh put it all in there.

Speaker 2 3:54

It's great to be able to find the right people to connect to and and you know how it relates to your music and and what you're envisioning. Um that in and of itself is a definite fine art that only some people are able to do, you know? Um I'm amazed at people that are being able to create art just out of nothing. Uh my daughter's like that. She always started drawing when she was a little girl and was like, wow, she's gonna be really good. And it's exactly what happened. She would just start drawing, and it's like, how do you do that? I have I have no concept of that at all. It just amazes me.

Speaker 4:36

Yeah, it's it's a trick thing. So to to start off with just something that just suddenly hits you, and that's this alb that happened with this album, that just hits you, and you s you uh you allow it to flow and just allow it to go, and just start doing the art not really knowing exactly where you're gonna go, and then suddenly you end up with this beautiful product.

Speaker 2 5:00

So the title Blossoming of Ancient Beauty, how did you come up with that title and what meanings does it have for you?

Speaker 5:09

So I really um it it's because of the inspiration of the album. So I um was studying Revelation and a person was talking about it, and as I was watching him in his really humbled state, kind of talking about it, and I just kept thinking, he is blossoming as a person as he looks at this ancient wisdom. And I just kept thinking how how much he was growing, and and then something just popped into my head, it's like this is like like ancient beauty that's blossoming, and that's exactly how it came about.

Speaker 2 5:47

Who are you referring to exactly?

Speaker 5:50

The book of Revelation.

Speaker 2 5:52

Um gotcha.

Speaker 5:54

The book of Revelation. So when I was studying it and talking to this um really kind man about it, and he was just I could just tell that he was like it this wisdom that was getting inside inside of him was just making him blossom as a person. And that's that's what I mean by it just came about because I just by observing him and the inspiration of all of it really came through because of that.

Speaker 2 6:21

So studying revelations, this was was this prior to you starting to record once again, and that's how that inspiration came about, or was it during?

Speaker 6:34

Um most of it was before, like the ideas started forming last winter, and um I just like I just kept thinking as I was studying and learning about it and the darkness that's in Revelation, um, but yet there's so much hope. And I just kept thinking we we need that. Um the world needs hope. And then of course when I signed on with the Wayfarer Music Group as a label, um, you know, they wanted an album pretty quickly, and I just thought, well, I've I've got this idea, I'm just gonna turn it into music. And then as I I also joined the recording academy as a voting member, and as my journeys went through this whole summer and all the traveling and um just and I was still writing during all of that, and it just kept coming forward that it's like I I I wanted something to for people to cope with because I was hearing so many stories. I heard a lot about India and the child trafficking and all that, and it just like the world just needs some hope. And that's how this came about.

Speaker 2 7:47

Uh we desperately need it. I mean, just watching the news for five minutes this morning was enough for me. Uh it's uh I don't understand it. To me, it's mind-boggling um to see all the things that are going on, and I just looked at my wife and said, We we're going backwards as a civilization. And I don't understand it when we should be going the other way. It should be going forward. I just I don't know. I just don't under understand it at all.

Speaker 8:22

And that's what I thought. It's almost like this is my own little path for the world. I just want to put out goodness, um, hopefulness. And if there's enough of us that put out goodness and hope and love and um you know just grow as a human, it's gonna overtake this evil that's out in the world. And this is my own little way of doing it.

Speaker 2 8:46

I agree. And you know, I don't look at it as little. It it to me it's it's a huge accomplishment to be able to put something like that together and push it out there to the world. And and being an artist and and sharing it with others, there's a certain amount of risk there. Um, you know, you're laying your soul on the line and you're saying, here I am, and this is me, uh, give it a listen. And you know, you're open to criticisms, and but then the other side is that you're open to a lot of blessings and love because of what you're putting out there, and people will receive it with open arms and understand why you're doing it and what it means.

Speaker 9:30

That's absolutely true. And I have to admit, you know, um putting it out there until I get a review, you you you know, did such a lovely, beautiful review, and I have to admit that was quite a relief because you just don't know. It's like, well, I have fallen in love with this album, but that doesn't mean anybody else will. And also when it's an album that is so, like I said, vulnerable, and it is it this is m m more than even more than my last album, it is completely my heart and completely my soul just um poured into this music. And so you just don't know. So yes, it's scary, and yes, I'm so thankful when I find somebody that appreciates it.

Speaker 2 10:16

Well I'm glad you like the review, and I'm gonna look forward to getting it out there to the masses so they can discover your music once again. And you're right on schedule uh year to year. It looks like uh is that something that you like to do, you would like to continue to do, is put out an album every year. Is that what the goal is?

Speaker 10:36

Um I don't really have a goal because it's just something that I um I I I'm not one of those people that I can just force music out of myself. It just has to organically be there. And for whatever reason, I'm in a very creative, fluid state. I've already got like two more album ideas that is just it's just coming out right now. Um so it it's flowing. So yeah, I have um one that's kind of celestial and Wayfair Groups is is very much kind of a celestial type of new age group, and and I'm a little bit different than them, but um but it's it's happening, it's like um I saw something about a white aurora and it's a rare event, and it just hit me how beautiful a new age album could be with that whole the folklore of auroras and everything. So that one, and then as I've been driving through um in camp, I'm in the middle of the United States and driving through the Flint Hills, going to these different parties and stuff. And the Flint Hills is just absolutely gorgeous. If you've never heard of it or never seen it, it is unlike anything, it is just expansive and beautiful in the colors and the winds and the storms and the so I also thought the Flint Hills would be something really wonderful to write about. So I have more ideas, but it's just it's all flowing right now.

Speaker 2 11:59

So an aurora is exactly what? It's relating to the the skies, right? Is that right?

Speaker 12:05

Right. Yeah, the Aurora Borealis. So it's um you know, in the north, and the magnetic creates these um lights in the sky, and um it normally their colors, we actually got to see one um in the middle of the United States just recently, um, but usually it's just in the north, and and and the people in the north used to think of it as the ancestors were looking after them, and that's how they visited them. So there's likely a lot of folklore that is created around the Borealis. And so and then I just saw the white uh aurora is a unique and it's a perception that it's white, but it's not real. And it just kind of struck me that that could be a really beautiful album.

Speaker 2 12:53

So yeah, something big. I did realize you were talking talking about Aurora Borealis. I just there's probably some people out there don't know what exactly that term meant, so that's why I asked these questions.

Speaker 1 13:05

So no problem.

Speaker 2 13:08

So you're on a journey right now that seems to have no end with all these ideas. Um now that you have this album wrapped up and ready to go out, you have all these ideas flowing. When when that happens, what do you do? Do you go to a computer and open up Word and start typing things out so you don't forget them? Do you go to a piano and start playing? I mean, what what exactly do you do to start your process?

Speaker 13:38

Um, there's a couple of ways. Um sometimes I I like to write poetry and then I'll build music out of the poetry. I have some music in the past that it's literally I just put the poetry to music. Um but I'll sit down, I have a um a beautiful grand piano. I'll sit down there and just start thinking about whatever the concept is and and maybe what progression would I use to create that feeling. Um or I have um a Kronos keyboard that you know has tons of sound, or I have um um ambient solstice puts out uh it's the group they he puts out uh like these different new age sounds, and so you know, I'll get in and play with that. But really, I start with the concept, then I start thinking about the progression and how I want that to flow, then I'll just turn on my recorder on my phone and just start playing. Um, one of the songs, the uh on the album, uh Lost in the Water Garden, I literally turned on my recording um Logic Pro and just started improvising and ended up basically that song was just me improvising um and what I would feel like if I'm contemplating and meditating and how would that feel with my heart? And so like I didn't even realize I was doing it for about four different minutes and four minutes and it just came about, and then I just added a a single cello underneath it. So that's kind of the the path I take, I guess.

Speaker 2 15:19

So at what point do you bring in other musicians? So when are you ready for that or in the process?

Speaker 15:26

Well, I I complete writing and I write parts out for them. Um other than my husband, Mark, who's the guitarist, Don Harry's a fabulous classical guitarist. And um for the most part I write everything out, but with him, we'll just sit down and listen to it, and he'll say, you know, I think this would be a really nice regression, or this would be a really nice line or a nice harmony. So he will interact with me on the writing of it. But for everyone else, I bring them in after I'm done, except I did record um the sound bowls on the first track, the crystal sound bowls. Um, Heather, who who has the sound bowl, she just brought them all to my home, and we just recorded each sound bowl so that I could have freedom to do what I wanted. And so she I just recorded them for a while, I recorded her just playing for a while, and then I just manipulated how I wanted. Um, the tell us, the slaudists, um, they all just you know, I wrote the music out for them and they did it.

Speaker 2 16:30

Interesting. Well, once again, it's been a pleasure to speak to you, Teresa, and congratulations on your upcoming release. Blossoming of Ancient Beauty. It's due January 16th, 2026. And um hopefully we can meet again and I'll be following your career as you go along here, and hopefully we'll get a chance to hear more of your music in the future. And I wish you and yours a happy holidays.

Speaker 16:58

And same to you.

Speaker 2 17:00

All right, you take care.

Speaker 17:02

Thank you, you too.

Speaker 2 17:04

Bye bye.

Speaker 17:05

Bye.