In his scant 22 years of existence, Ben Kweller has had a career that would rival those twice his age. He has toured the world, been on numerous television shows and even had lunch with Madonna. Growing up in Greenville, Texas, Kweller started playing and writing music when he was 8 years old at the piano and on the drums.

“Someone taught me how to play ‘Heart and Soul’ on the piano, like every other American kid, and I could see that it was a pattern like C, A minor, F, G,” Kweller said. “I said what if I went C, G, A minor, F? Then it sounded like ‘Let it Be.’ I figured out ‘Let it Be’ was just ‘Heart and Soul’ reversed. So then I thought to myself ‘you write songs with the chords you know and just make up the pattern.'”

When he was 13 years old, he formed the group Radish, which became the talk of nearby Dallas, until they were signed to a major label in 1996. One album and one world tour later, Radish broke up and Kweller moved to Brooklyn in 1999. After some live shows opening up for Evan Dando and Creeper Lagoon, Ben was signed to Dave Matthews’ ATO records.

“I’m so different than Dave Matthews; it’s kind of cool for him because it shows that he has tastes in music other than crazy jazz. [Matthews] is just such a great guy. He just loves music, and he’s a huge supporter of mine,” Kweller said

Kweller said at first that he had reservations about signing with Dave Matthews.

“I wasn’t a big fan of his music, and I didn’t want people that I associate as people who are fans of my music would perceive it,” Kweller said. “My fans are fans of the Strokes and Pavement, bands that are way more indie and rocking, but it’s been great.”

Kweller said he has been on tour since last January in support of his debut solo album, Sha Sha, and doesn’t plan to leave the road until May or June of next year.

“There have been so many highlights [from the tour]. I opened for the Strokes, going to Japan for the first time, going to Australia for the first time, doing the Reading Festival. All of these things are the coolest things.”

A fan favorite during his set has been a country and western version of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice Baby.”

“My friend was having a tag sale, and she had all these CDs for like 50 cents. I was going through them, and I saw To the Extreme. I said to her, ‘You can’t get rid of this! I’ll buy it.’ I brought it back inside that night, and was looking over the lyrics as I was holding my guitar, playing this country, bluesy riff. I started singing these words in this funny way, and it all sort of came together and evolved into what it is.”

Kweller said the follow-up to Sha Sha should be available in time for the new school year.