The night after his eighth album releases to the world, Benjamin Jay Thomas comes home to celebrate it. Behind Your Eyes, The Stars Are Born is a record five years in the making — a joyful, searching, ultimately hopeful celebration of the divine creativity alive in every human being. The release show at Snowy Owl Theater is the first full live performance of this music: an evening shaped as a Guided Concert, moving through song, poetry, moments of silence, and communal singing, supported by a handful of other voices from the Bring Forth community.

The set will be a carefully crafted arc... an experience designed to let the music land the way it was written to land: in a room full of people, together.

 

Behind Your Eyes, The Stars Are Born is Benjamin Jay Thomas's eighth full length album, five years in the making. It is his most sonically adventurous record yet - blending indie folk roots with the warmth and lift of indie pop - and his most personal: a full-throated celebration of the seed of divine creativity at the center of every human being.

The album moves through longing and reconnection, through the rebel cry of imagination refusing to be shrunk, through the medicine of faithful witness and presence. It ends where it begins: in the heart, in the body, in the deep knowing that the Wisdom is you.

 

Benjamin Jay Thomas is a Leavenworth, WA based singer/songwriter, creating music and experiences to remind you why you’re on this planet. His “guided concert” format melds together storytelling, performance, poetry, mindfulness, breathing, and a bit of communal singing into an experience that gives participants space to breathe, be and connect. 

Benjamin Jay Thomas has spent 25 years learning how to turn a room full of strangers into a community — and a Guided Concert is the fullest expression of that practice.

Rather than a performance we watch from a distance, this is a shared experience we enter together — a carefully crafted arc of original music, poetry, moments of silence, and communal singing, designed to create real presence in the room. Benjamin has spent years developing this format in living rooms, yoga studios, and intimate venues across the country, and it has become the centerpiece of his live work.

The evening centers on songs from his new album Behind Your Eyes, The Stars Are Born - songs about recovering imagination, waking up inside our own lives, and the seed of divine creativity alive in every person. Woven throughout are the voices of Targol and The Reclamation, artists from the Bring Forth collective whose music carries the same heart: that song is medicine, and that creativity is one of the most honest ways we have of finding each other.

People leave these evenings having sung together, sat in silence together, and felt something they didn't plan to feel. Not a show to attend — a gathering to be part of.

Benjamin Jay Thomas: benjaminjaythomas.com

Benjamin Jay Thomas is a singer-songwriter, producer, educator, and experience curator based in Leavenworth, WA. Over a 25-year career rooted in indie folk and shaped by artists like Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, and The National, he has released eight full-length albums and produced dozens of songs and albums for artists around the world. He is the founder of Bring Forth, a nonprofit creative community helping people heal and transform through heart-centered music, and performs Guided Concerts weaving music, poetry, silence, and communal singing into transformative shared experiences. His eighth album, Behind Your Eyes, The Stars Are Born, releases June 19, 2026.

Targol:

Targol is a singer-songwriter based in Washington state, dedicated to sharing heartfelt music that resonates with the universal human experience. Through her medicine songs, she invites us to embrace compassion as a compass for our egos, enabling personal healing and a life in service of our planet and the life it holds. May her music foster awareness, connection, surrender and love.

The Reclamation (Sister Sparrow):

The Reclamation is a movement — a movement to reclaim our heart-centered truths, catalyze healing and uplift the collective. Based on the healing power of music as a vehicle for protest and authentic expression, The Reclamation brings songs that span a diverse array of musical cultures and genres. Songs of freedom. Here to unite, empower and evoke positive change. Here to awaken.

@ Fremont Abbey Arts Center

6:30p doors, ~7p show

All ages, some seating available

Abbey Arts Bar offerings at this venue may include various non-alcohol options + local beer, wine, cider & select cocktails for 21+, small snacks, etc.  Offerings may vary based on show size & staffing. 

----------------------------------------------------------

ABBEY ARTS EVENT INFO:

Fremont Abbey is ADA accessible on either level.

For most events we have a mix of padded chairs and standing room.

Seating is not guaranteed or reserved unless noted.

To respect the performing artists and your fellow attendees, please refrain from talking during the quieter performances.  Those unable to adhere to this guideline may be asked to leave (no refunds).  

Please limit photos & video during the show so as to not distract other attendees from the experience.

Phone and video may be permitted for some shows from the standing area only please.

No professional cameras or cameras with shutters allowed in the venue

We are an all ages venue. Kids 10 & under are free at Abbey Arts concerts & arts events unless noted.  Program content may vary, please use your own discretion. 

Equity & Inclusion - Entering the venue indicates agreement to adhere to the Abbey Respect Policy. www.fremontabbey.org/respect

Service animals as defined by the ADA are allowed. Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.

Purchasing a ticket with us indicates sharing your email and we may send you occasional new show listings or other newsletter fun from Abbey Arts. You can opt out easily anytime. For events produced in collaboration with third-party curators or co-promoters, we may share attendee email addresses with those specific partners on events they are curating. We will never sell your email or data.

Celebrating all the powerful songs that were shared by our artist collective during last week’s Bring Forth Bloom week… songs born of the full human experience, telling stories of hope and connection from the heart. Visit the Bring Forth Bandcamp store - continue to love on these songs and share them with your friends!

Dear Friends,

As 2025 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to speak directly to you. If you have listened to the music, shared a song, attended a gathering, or followed this work from afar, you are already part of the story. Bring Forth exists because people like you believe that creativity is not a luxury. It is one of the ways human beings stay awake to their own souls.

When we launched this summer, we named our mission with clarity: Bring Forth cultivates and amplifies human-made, heart-centered creativity as a pathway to healing, emotional well-being, and cultural renewal.In a world marked by rapid technological change, rising disconnection, and a cultural hunger for meaning, heart-centered creativity is becoming more essential, not less. It is one of the practices that keeps us human.