Nashville, TN – Acclaimed cellist, songwriter and activist Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native will perform at The High Watt in Nashville, TN on Sunday, September 10th. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. Touring in support of highly anticipated album Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native (Soundly Music), the collection is a thought-provoking conversation about the practice and art of an ever-evolving American genre and is set for release on August 11th. This album is Sollee’s most personally revealing work and a reflection of his native Kentucky. Paste Magazine shared the powerful video for “Pieces Of You,” a nostalgic song that places emphasis on human existence and was inspired by Sollee’s real-life friendship with conceptual artist Louis Zoellar Bickett II, view HERE.
With this album, Sollee’s curious spirit leads to further exploration about the beginnings of bluegrass and the genre’s connection to the sounds of early Irish and Scottish musicians and worldly rhythms from across the globe. As he traces the origins of roots music back to the immigrants who helped shape it, he reminds us of how the immigrants of today continue to shape our music and culture. “Mechanical Advantage” is built on the foundation of the Huapango musical-dance genre. Groove-wise it’s very different from anything Sollee usually performs, but it still carries similarities to the fiddling styles of Appalachian, mountain string music. Listen HERE. A field recording taken by Louis Sarno from the Byaka Pygmy tribe in the Congo inspired the idea for “Carrie Bell.” As Sollee listened to the field recording, he loved the groove and the vocalization and so he started tracing some of the rhythms, bass lines, patterns and it led him to create the upbeat and moving rhythmic piece.
Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native was produced by Alex Krispin and recorded in a cabin at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, KY. Each song was captured live as an ensemble with a mobile, analog studio and with just a few overdubs. Musicians on the album include Jordon Ellis (Percussion), Bennett Sullivan (Banjo), Julian Pinelli (Fiddle), Jonathan Estes (Bass), Josh Hari (Bass) and Jonah Smith (Background Vocals). This is the first official leg of tour dates with Sollee’s band Kentucky Native, which includes Ellis, Pinelli and Sullivan.
Sollee continues to combine his environmental activism with music to share how art can help tackle challenging issues and create meaningful change. Recently, he received the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival’s New Normal Award for his documentary short “Ditch The Van.” The film chronicles his decision to embark on a tour by bicycle. The award was created to recognize the project that best represented the festival’s climate change-related theme.