On a gloomy and rainy evening in the middle of the week, most New Yorkers make it a point to head straight home after work to sink into their couches and continue their binge of Making A Murderer. Somehow, Joe Benjamin And A Mighty Handful managed to pack little Rockwood Music Hall with an eager crowd and a symphonic sound.

With an 11-member orchestra, Joe Benjamin is a bit of a rarity in the New York music scene. The singer-songwriter, composer, and conductor hails from Mettenheim, Germany, a small farm town just outside of Munich. The music he performs is familiar, while his passion is foreign. It’s clear that he cares very deeply for every note performed by every musician on stage. That love is only surpassed by the respect he has for every one of his Mighty Handful.

That respect is reciprocated in a way that is uncommon with bands these days, especially one of this size. Joe has been able to keep almost every single member from the band’s inception — anyone who’s managed or been in a band knows that such a thing is basically impossible. That consistency pays off in the form of a band that’s tighter than most, with a sound that fills the room with a warm confidence.

The band is in the middle of recording their first LP (most of which was recorded on a farm/church studio in Upstate NY). You can expect the album to be filled with songs that are as earnest (“Potion,” written for a very special someone in Joe’s life) as they are enjoyable, (look out for crowd-favorite “Three Days, No Sex”).

Look out for these guys in the coming months, they’re proof that sometimes good things come in handfuls.