A Chat with Bennie Hayfield (24.08.2026)
With his album A World I’m Living For, Bennie Hayfield is exploring freedom and escape from the claustrophobia that is modern life. While this is a personal album that’s packed with raw authenticity and honesty, it offers liberation to anyone feeling trapped by the modern world. Resting beneath the liberation is an urgency that threads all the moments of the track together. We had the chance to chat with Bennie Hayfield about the album, his creative process, the length of the album and much more!
OSR: When you were young, you took part in amateur theatre and singing groups, but relatively recently took up the guitar. What made you want to make music?
Hayfield: In 2020, I started listening to a lot more music, like Elton John and the Beatles, which inspired me to learn some stuff on piano. Towards the end of the year, I started listening to Johnny Cash, specifically American IV, which is the main thing that inspired me to pick up a guitar for the first time, and begin writing my own songs.
OSR: You have a very raw acoustic-driven sound that allows the honesty of your music to shine. What do you feel shaped your sound?
Hayfield: Similarly to my inspiration – that one Johnny Cash album is at the core of a lot of things for me, personally. It proved that a good song doesn’t always need all of the frills to work. Almost all of my songs are about real feelings or experiences, so the stripped-back acoustic arrangement becomes a very raw and honest way of presenting them.
OSR: You recently released your debut album, A World I’m Living For, which explores freedom and the escape from modern life. What was the driving force behind the album?
Hayfield: I was feeling a bit down and stressed out about not only my life but also the wider world around me, feeling like I didn’t know my place in it (if I even have a place in it!). This album is the accumulation of those feelings – I wrote some of the songs out of frustration, some out of a desire for freedom, some out of a desire for understanding myself! In a stressful time, these songs were my therapy – my way of dealing with feeling lost.
OSR: You created the album with your cousin Michael Clarke. What was the creative process like?
Hayfield: The process was pretty chill, honestly! Due to the simple arrangements, it was a lot easier than my previous recording with him – my old band’s album ‘New Man’. We worked our way through the songs over a few days, with time to spare! Bradninch is a nice town to work on music, as well as it is very quiet!
OSR: There are 15 tracks making this a lengthy album, but how did you determine the order of the tracks? Did this fall into place naturally or was there a lot of deliberation?
Hayfield: I had a lot of songs written and basically wanted to get as many out as possible, to seal off this first chapter of my solo journey. I was willing to drop a few songs if needed, but we had time to record them all! In terms of order, I think a lot of it just fell into place naturally! I had things I was certain of, such as the first and last songs, and the rest seemed to work itself out!
OSR: While there are standout tracks in the album, which would you recommend to people who want to really understand the heart of the collection?
Hayfield: I think, if people want to get an overall feel for the core messages of the album, the tracks I’d recommend are ‘Sunset’, ‘Beyond the Sky’ and ‘Kings & Queens (Life Goes On)’. They are some of my favourites that I’ve written and are songs that I consistently play at live gigs!
OSR: There is a sense of urgency that can be felt in the depths of each track on the album. Was this something you planned or did if evolve as you created the album?
Hayfield: I was at a bit of a turning point in my life while writing and recording these songs – I think there was a sense of urgency for me personally because I had this feeling within me that I was going to run out of time and I’d never release any of them. I’m happy that it wasn’t quite as dramatic as I seemed to think it was in the end!
OSR: You made your London debut at the Star in Shoreditch and performed at the Bradninch Music Festival, but what is your most memorable performance?
Hayfield: I think the second performance I did at the Bradninch festival, with Nicola Oakley playing viola/cajon was one of my favourites! There’s also a bar in Godalming called The Antelope, where I often play – I love the atmosphere there, so it’s honestly a contender when it comes to my favourite places I’ve played!
OSR: When people listen to your music, what is it that you would like them to take away from the experience?
Hayfield: I just hope that maybe they’ll understand me a little bit more once they’ve heard it! And I hope they enjoy the songs – that’s the main part!
OSR: What do you feel has been the biggest hurdle you’ve faced as a musician?
Hayfield: I put all of my eggs into one basket and that basket was a rock band with three other people. When it was clear that was not going to work, the stress of trying to start again, as well as the vulnerability of doing it alone when I was used to other people on stage with me, was terrifying. The first time I ever performed as a solo acoustic act was at an open mic night, late 2024 or early 2025, to a room of no more than 10 people – then my first solo gig was with a broken arm, having to play keyboard instead of guitar because my strumming arm was in a sling! Actually getting up there and doing it is a scary thing!
OSR: What can we expect from you in the future?
Hayfield: I hope to release more music as soon as this year, including (hopefully) some live recordings! I have big plans for my next album, which will hopefully be an evolution of my current sound – I’m hoping to record that next year at some point! In the meantime, I aim to play to anybody who will listen! For the next year or so, I’m going to be travelling between towns and busking a mix of covers and my originals, as well as taking my songs to open mics, to hopefully just get my music out there a bit!
Many thanks to Bennie Hayfield for speaking with us. Find out more about him on his official website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
