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Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Eric Benét to this program. The talented singer-songwriter is out on tour this summer, and fall for that matter, in support of his latest CD, "Hurricane,' his first CD is six years. It's about time, Mr. Benét. Following his U.S. dates, he heads off to Asia next month. Eric Benét, how you living, man?

Benét: Man, it's so good to be here.

Tavis: Nice to see you. You been all right?

Benét: Thank you. I've been so blessed.

Tavis: You're looking well, nice gray suit, looking all...

Benét: Thank you. I'm not as pimp as you right now, but, you know, I'm working on it.

Tavis: Get out. I can only imagine how you must have felt when you heard about Hurricane Katrina. Here you're out with a new CD, it's called "Hurricane," which we'll talk about in a second, and obviously you, there's no connection here, but how...

Benét: No words, man. I'm telling you, yesterday, I did a show at the House of Blues here in LA, so you know, you get caught up in your little world. And I purposely hadn't been watching television or listening to the radio, I'd just been doing like my own preparation for a show.

And the situation was bad yesterday morning, but I wake up today and I'm trying to wrap my brain around the magnitude of this thing. And my heart is just--I'm truly stunned and I'm just, I'm in deep prayer and meditation, and trying to find ways and think of anything that I could do. I'm sure everybody else in the country and the world right now, it's that thought in their mind is okay, 'What can I do?' 'Where do I sign up?' And I'm just, I'm really stunned, man.

Tavis: Your CD, entitled "Hurricane," as we just saw a little bit of that clip, and I was just thinking while the clip was running, that I know that out of this tragedy will come some good. My grandmother said all the time, my grandmother used to always say, 'With everything you go through, you have to ask yourself, what's the lesson, and what's the blessing.'

Benét: Absolutely. Very wise woman.

Tavis: What's the lesson, what's the blessing? And this seems to be a tragedy of epic proportions, and it is. But to your CD, you called this "Hurricane" in part because you had to go through some upheaval to learn some things.

Benét: Absolutely, absolutely. It's, you know, your grandmother couldn't be more poignant. I mean, it's just the nature of the whole human condition. It's, whenever we're faced with something that seems impossible for us to overcome, especially when we're right in the middle of it, you know, like Winston Churchill said, he said, 'If you find yourself going through hell, keep going.'

Tavis: Keep going, yeah.

Benét: You know, 'cause when you're in the middle of that thing, it's like, okay, I don't know how much I can take. And through that, there's growth and there's wisdom. You know, so there's always that--little piece of enlightenment or blessing that almost seems completely invisible. But it's there. It's there waiting for you.

And when we think...I mean, my brain keeps going back to these people in the Delta region, and it's like, you know--we may be a little hard pressed to try and find the lesson and the blessing. But there, in some way or some shape or form, there will be some positivity in some indirect way that comes from this. I can't fathom what it is at the moment.

Tavis: I think we all know and all believe and all accept, though, that at the end of the day, the human spirit is more resilient than anything I've ever known.

Benét: Exactly.

Tavis: And that people will come through this and they will move forward, even though it's hard to see that right now. I raise that, though, in connection to you, back to this particular 'Hurricane,' your CD, because it's one thing for people to go through situations. And I like your Churchill--piece, you're going through hell, keep going.

Benét: Keep going.

Tavis: That's the only way to get through it. What makes you uniquely different, though, is that once you went through your hurricane, personal hurricane, professional hurricane, you can say as much or little as you would like to say about it. But once you went through that and came out on the other side, what makes you different is that you sat down and wrote a bunch of songs about it, and put it all out on a CD.

So is that like, on the one hand, I guess, Eric, I could see that as being a bit therapeutic. On the other hand, it's like you're setting yourself up to have to deal with this again, to have to hear about it, to be asked questions about it in interviews. Because you're so introspective, but then you put it out there. Why put it out there like that?

Benét: That's just kind of like the occupational hazard, man. It's like, as a song writer, it's like air to me. It's like breathing. And whatever I'm going through, or whatever--lessons I'm learning, from whatever mistakes or whatever pain or, I have to put it down in lyrics. And I have to put it down in music for me to be able to really embrace the lesson, you know. Because I think part of my process is putting it out to share with other people. I mean, everybody has their own story of challenges that they've faced and things that they have to overcome. You know, everyone's story is different.

But there are definite common denominators that, you know, whatever your story is, there's this lesson, as your grandmother so eloquently put it, you know, there's a lesson that God is trying to teach us. Make sure you get the lesson, whatever it is. And, so I think part of my thing is feeling like I just have to reiterate that to people sometimes, you know.

Tavis: I can see that being your process, and if it is your process, it is your process and one could argue that there's no reason to ever change the process. If it works for you, and you've sold some records, so it clearly works for you. On the other hand though, Eric, it seems to me that there's another way to look at this, which is that while it may have been your process heretofore, to be expressive and to be open and to share your experiences through your music, once your business becomes public in the way that yours has been, and the tabloids are talking about it, and everybody knows something, at least they think they know about your situation, about your business. Was there ever a point in time in doing this record where you said, 'You know, maybe this time, I'm gonna take a pass on my typical process, because I really don't want to put this stuff out there again.'

Benét: Right, right.

Tavis: Did you ever think about changing your process for this record?

Benét: The thought, you know, any time you're in the process of creating something, I mean, yeah. I'd be dishonest if I said there wasn't a time or two when I thought, okay...

Tavis: Maybe not. (laughs)

Benét: ...maybe not this time. Maybe I'm putting a little too much out. But then, you know, just going through how, okay, in the, you know, as things are played out, I'm not going to go into detail, but it's like yeah, there's a demon, there's a villain, and there's, you know, there's the victim, and that's how things are always played out in the media. And there's the desire for the person whose story hasn't been told to say, but wait, but wait.

You know, but at the end of the day, I mean, it just makes more sense, and it does myself more justice, it does all parties involved more justice, if I just, you know, some things, you know, you just go through your own personal and private process. And you know, come through it on the other side, that way, a--little bit more, I don't know, can't think of a better word other than classy, you know?

Tavis: Let me talk about what's on the CD. I just want to throw a few titles at you that are on here, speaking of being open. "Be Myself Again.'

Benét: Yeah, feels good. I haven't, I'm on a promotional tour right now for this album, 'Hurricane,' and it's like I haven't been performing for about five years now. And this is like my lifeblood. This is what I feel like God put me here to do. And if everybody has a message to get to people, and I feel like this is my way to do it. And I, you know, sometimes it feels like when you stop doing what you've been put here to do, you go a little crazy.

And I felt like I went a little crazy for a little while. So 'Be Myself Again,' I start the album off with this song. It's a very raw, minimal production, because I just wanted the lyric and the words to come through to just say, look, I've been gone, but this is what I'm here to do, and it feels so good to be back, you know, doing what is my life, lifeblood, you know.

Tavis: Track eight is named after your daughter. And speaking of which, you were back to being a single dad again.

Benét: Single dad.

Tavis: But track eight is called 'India.'

Benét: 'India.' Yeah, man. It's, I wanted my daughter, she's 13 right now, I wanted her to have this song where, you know, she can listen to now when she's 13, or she can listen to it now, 30 years from now, when she's going through grown folks' problems. And if I'm not there, or if I'm not able to be there for whatever reason, I wanted her to have a song where she could feel her father's just affirming love and belief in whatever she's going through, that she can make it through. So that's probably, no, that's definitely the most important song, the most meaningful song to me on the album, is "India.'

Tavis: "I Want to be Loved.' Don't we all.

Benét: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. It's--the title says it all. It's like you've been through some stuff, you've learned some stuff, you've made mistakes in life, and you're at the point now where you feel as though you've grown enough, you've learned enough, to be able to give and receive at a very healthy level.

Tavis: You were offstage basically for five years. The last time I saw, well not the last time, but I saw you some years ago, we were on a plane together. You remember this?

Benét: That's right.

Tavis: We were on a plane together, and you were telling me then, you gave me your headset.

Benét: I did. I did.

Tavis: And let me listen to what you were working on. I was like, you know, that was five years ago, so I'm glad to see you finally (laughs), you're like Stevie Wonder, man. I'm still waiting. I'm like, I'm glad you finally got around to putting it out. But when you got back on stage, after being off basically for five years, you mentioned the House of Blues in LA the other night, last night. How did it feel?

Benét: Like, didn't miss a beat. It just felt like, you know, it felt as if, the thought going through my mind when I first, when I did my first date on this promotional tour was, 'Why the hell did I, you know, why did I let like my own stuff, my own issues, my own private, personal, whatever, get in the way of this, which is most important for me to stay grounded--and feel like I'm giving something.' You know, so it just felt like I didn't miss a beat.

By the grace of God, and by the grace of the audience, the energy that they gave me felt like, you know, they didn't miss a beat either. So, I know, I hate to make any public promise or anything, but I feel like I can now. I will never wait five years, you know. I don't care if ain't nobody buying an Eric Benét record nowhere, I'm gonna make them and put them out.

Tavis: If I had a dime for every artist I've heard make that proclamation, oh, no, it won't take me another 10 years, yeah, right. Anyway, this one is out, and you can pick it up. It's called "Hurricane," by Eric Benét. Got a lot of good stuff on here. As you can tell by our conversation, he doesn't hold back in terms of sharing what he thinks needs to be shared at this point in his life. So Eric, thanks for sharing with me. Good to see you.

Benét: Hey man. So good to see you.

Tavis: Always glad to have you on.

Benét: All right. God bless.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. Thanks for watching. And as always, keep the faith.

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