Ben Folds Boarded A Cappella Bandwagon

Epic Ben Folds concerts have frequently involved the North Carolina musician splitting the crowd into various sections and asking them to sing along to his tunes. In the past couple of years, though, he's taken a much larger interest in the voices of strangers, immersing himself in the world of a cappella.

"A cappella is wonderful because it's nothing else but people singing," Folds enthuses to Spinner.

Being a judge on 'The Sing-Off' -- the 'American Idol'-like competition for a cappella troupes which kicks off its second season Dec. 6 on NBC -- gives the impression that the vocal style is old hat for the 44-year-old. But it's only his recent collaboration with college a cappella groups from across the US entitled 'Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!' that readied him for the prime-time critiquing.

Folds came up with the concept for the special record after discovering a YouTube clip of an Ohio University a cappella outfit called the Leading Tones singing what's arguably his best known song, 'Brick.' He enjoyed it so much that he put out a call for other troupes to post similar videos, and he received about 250 submissions within a few weeks of people interpreting his material.