Hear Robben Ford's eclectic, electrifying new single, Balafon

Robben Ford
(Image credit: Press)

Back in May, Robben Ford announced Pure, his first instrumental studio album in almost 25 years.

Now, Ford has released the album's third single, the beautifully genre-blurring Balafon.

Packed with restless twists and turns, and sprinkled with blues, soul, Latin and even country influences, the song is a crystal-clear display of the virtuoso guitarist's one-of-a-kind six-string approach. You can give it a spin via Spotify (or, if you don't have Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music) below. 

Balafon was one of the first two songs written for Pure," Ford said in a statement accompanying the song's release. "I wanted a beautiful chordal melody and then a shift to a very strong 'twangy' riff to contrast. Between, there is a pensive moment to set up a powerful guitar climax!”

To preorder Pure – which is set for an August 27 release via earMUSIC – step right this way.

Aside from Pure, Ford's also been hard at work of late designing a new custom (potentially a signature?) guitar with PRS, which he recently teased with an Instagram post partially captioned "sneak peek!" 

Robben Ford Pure

(Image credit: Press)

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Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.