OXFORD – The weather can be quite iffy this time of year, but there’s one thing for sure … fine entertainment at 6 On The Square (6OTS). This Friday, at 7:30 p.m., 6OTS welcomes singer-songwriter Ben Bedford. There’s nothing iffy about Bedford’s compositions, his songs are rich in sensory detail with a strong sense of time and place. Ben’s music has been called “American Portrait Songwriting;” come and be drawn deeply into his narratives.

It’s easy to see that the music Ben creates today is the sum of his life’s influences. While growing up, he listened to the music of the Beatles, Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash and B.B. King. He started playing guitar at fourteen, with a focus on the blues. In college, he discovered the music of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt and then later Richard Shindell and Patty Griffin. Ben graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in History. He worked for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency summers and winters during college and then for one-year full-time upon graduation.

Of his compositions, Ben stated, “I have always loved a well told story and history is full of great ones.”