Bensusan’s performance in Holland (Netherlands) was an anomaly in a winter schedule cut back to two performances – a big deal for someone who enjoys people and sharing music. "I kind of took my winter off in order to work on the recording of a new album," he said. "I will resume touring in March, with a tour on the East Coast, followed by shows until the summer – in France, UK, Italy, Ireland, and much more to come in the fall and next year."

That March tour of seven East-Coast cities will include a stop on the 30th to play City Stage-Level Five in Wilmington. And it’s just Bensusan and his guitar. "I tour mostly alone, or accompanied by a road manager," he said. "I conceive music so that it can be played and sung by just me. I am more in my element that way. I have had several experiences of duet, trios or even band leader, as amazing as those were, I really enjoy not being responsible for a crew. Life on the road being somewhat hectic, I feel lighter, more available to meeting people and spend time with friends."

Bensusan’s journey as a musician started when he was seven years old, learning to play piano, becoming familiar with classical music and music theory. About four years later he decided to teach himself guitar and – only six years later – astounded the audience at the 1976 Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, an event that coincided with his first album, Pres de Paris, winning the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque (think Grammy). He was only 17.

Those familiar with Bensusan know that he is a superb finger style performer and composer for guitar, but he also writes and sings songs. "I write music but no lyrics. My wife Doatea does write lyrics, slams, poems, and I feel in sync with her perception of our world and her sensitivity, so these are mostly the words I sing."

Bensusan has also set the words of Victor Hugo, Rabindranath Tagore and others to music. "My new album will have, for the first time, a majority of songs: one traditional theme coming from the Celtic mythology, one song in English, whose words are written by Nina Swan, a friend from Los Angeles. All the other songs are written with Doatea."

Words, said Bensusan, can make a direct connection, as direct as the music. "Music can find another access, thanks to the lyrics and vice versa, and at the end of the day, a voice on the guitar and a human voice are just two primes on the palette."

The sound world that influenced Bensusan and continues to inform his music and playing is an approach that is wide open, from the enriched sonorities of the tuning he uses, to the music of Celtic, traditional and folk-revival artists, including Alan Stivell, Planxty, Martin Carthy and Steeleye Span, all very much in mind when Bensusan was in his mid-to-late teens.

When asked what he listens to when he has time, he provided a partial list: Keith Jarrett, Juan Luis Guerra, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Rankin, Gabriel Faure, Maurice Durufle, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Manuel Falla, Bill Evans, Francoise Couperin, J.S. Bach, Jean-Phillipe Rameau, Salsa, Astor Piazzola, Herbie Hancock, Bulgarian choral music, Miles Davis, Milton Nascimento, Paco De Lucia, Shirley Horn, Take 6, Virginia Rodriguez, Franck Sinatra, Lyle Mays.

And Bensusan has played the music he admires, from the work of his contemporaries, such as the late guitarist/composer Michael Hedges, to classical works of Debussy and Couperin. But for the last several years, he said, he has focused on writing, improvising and singing only original material. "I don’t have much time to write while on tour, but I do accumulate lots of experiences, ideas which I will work on once back home. I also love practicing and improvising while waiting for a plane, or in a train, and try these ideas on stage on the spot," he continued.

"The fact that time is like, suspended when on the road, it’s almost unreal, or like my other reality. That helps me to be with music on a day to day basis ... I feel that I am collecting the fruits of all the seeds I have planted, by sharing music with ... audiences, and to confront ideas with the excitement to share them at night. They do then incubate and make their way onwards, until they eventually reach maturity – or pretend they do -- and pop out."

For all the inspiration that often comes from the road, Bensusan said that home life has been his greatest influence lately, noting that this winter seems to be longer and colder – "more real" – this year. "It’s cold outside, warm inside. The frame is set for an ideal productive and creative hibernation – I got a stock of honey – I found, finally, the time to work on my new pieces and songs, and record them on an 11th solo album to come out in September. That brings a lot of sunshine."

Though he has devoted his life to music, Bensusan said that his greatest satisfaction comes, not only from playing well and the connection with an audience, but from some rather simple things. "My wife, Doatea, and my son, Théophile – to see them dancing – to visit with friends, a great meal, a great wine, a glass of water, oceans, mountains, the countryside, sun, moon, stars in the night, daybreak, a long conversation on how to reinvent this world, making plans, making no plans, making a bit - or a lot - of money, and spending it, coming back home ..."

An artist can chose to operate in a vacuum, but Bensusan isn’t such an artist. "Politics would rather depress me, although I need to stay in contact with what’s going on, and react one way or another." Though frustration with manipulative leaders and institutions does weigh on his thoughts, he finds music and the arts, broadly, lifting his spirits and providing the "food" or "fuel" for our evolution.

"I can’t refrain from thinking that, sometimes, all of this is like a circus, and that I am very grateful to have music in my life. This is why developing and supporting arts and culture is the best signal we can send, and the smartest thing we can do, for ourselves, and for all mankind."