Breaking BAD HABiT: Inside Musician Jack Bennett’s Ever-expanding Music Career

Jack Bennett, lead singer of the Arkansas-based band BAD HABiT, always dreamed that he would be a full-time musician, especially when the jobs he worked after earning a communications degree were less than fulfilling.

“I thought, ‘This isn’t how I want to be spending my time,’” he said. “For a while, I thought [music] was just going to be a dream.”

Finally, he crunched some numbers and resolved to go full time with his music career, a decision that led him to gig constantly either solo, with BAD HABiT or one of his other groups.

“It’s worked out really well,” Bennett said. “I’m a lot happier.”

Two of the other bands he plays with are tribute bands. One, The Normal Noises, is a Tom Petty tribute, and the other, The Handsome Devils, is an Eagles tribute band. His most recent project pairs him with keyboardist Jackson Rogers under the name Pair of Jacks. The band plays more contemporary rock and pop compared to the hard rocking songs BAD HABiT is known for, along with occasional acoustic shows called BAD HABiT Unplugged.

Bennett and his brother, Sam, the drummer in BAD HABiT and the tribute bands, were first brought into the world of music thanks to their father, who is a musician, as well.

“We fell in love with what he played in the car,” Bennett said.

Growing up, Bennett and his brother also watched a DVD of a Rick Springfield concert “religiously,” he said. He remembers thinking to himself that he wanted to be up on stage like that one day. This led him to take guitar lessons as a youth and to form his first band for a showcase at his music school.

Photos courtesy of BAD HABIT

BAD HABiT came together 11 years ago, when Jack and Sam played a Pulaski Academy class reunion. Their mother, a teacher at the Little Rock school, was asked if her sons would perform for the event. Even though the boys did not have a formal group, she agreed to it, so the brothers quickly put together a band and named themselves BAD HABiT.

Today, BAD HABiT’s lineup includes Jack Bennett on lead guitar and lead vocals, Sam Bennett on drums, Kaleb Hatley on bass guitar, and Brodie Horton on rhythm guitar. Over the past 11 years, the band has cemented itself as a mainstay for local venues, corporate gigs and weddings.

BAD HABiT plays all around the South with a particularly rabid fan base in Hot Springs and Little Rock. Jack Bennett said those fans, as well as the experiences he has had performing, are what has kept him in the music game this long.

“The people I’ve come to meet and the friends we’ve made through the shows have been great,” he said.

Photos courtesy of BAD HABIT

BAD HABiT is also somewhat of a family business for the Bennetts.

“None of it would be possible without what our parents do behind the scenes,” he said.

When Bennett plays solo, he tries to not perform the same music as BAD HABiT so fans can enjoy a different experience. The BAD HABiT sets are also switched up often so that concertgoers are always getting something slightly new and different from the time before.

“I don’t want to be a one-trick pony,” he said.

Photo by FTP Collective

An honoree in the Local Artist category for AY About You’s “AY’s Best of 2026,” Bennett said he also enjoys the challenge of crowd requests when he is playing — he just wants the audience to have fun and hear what they want to hear. He has been performing long enough that he does not get nervous before shows, he said, adding that the band members are supportive of each other and look out for each other. The quartet also always prays before a show.

Bennett said he is appreciative of the support of his bandmates and said his solo career would not be as strong if it were not for the fan base BAD HABiT built. People can keep up with where he is performing and which group he is performing with through BAD HABiT’s social media.

“I’m appreciative of everything the band has given me,” he said.

SEE THIS ARTICLE BELOW AND IN OUR MAY 2026 ISSUE OF AY MAGAZINE