When Ben Arthur ruefully sings, “The older I get, the more I realize/The best I can hope for is compromise”, the singer-songwriter is only half-serious. After all, the young veteran hasn't toiled at his craft for more than a decade to give in without a fight. That line, from “Mary Ann”—one of the songs on his last album, Edible Darling —reflects the litany of near-misses he experienced after being heavily courted by several major record labels over the years.

“I never doubted that playing music is what I wanted to do,” says the Virginia native, who laughs, “In fact, you can refer to me as ‘The ‘Artist Formerly Known as ‘Waiter'.” He says that music is what he lives for, even if at times he has had to do it while working in restaurants.

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