Ben Sollee

A classically trained cellist from Lexington, Kentucky, Ben Sollee first gained notice playing backup before stepping forward as a songwriter in 2008. He took up the instrument in fourth grade, nurtured by parents steeped in music, and gradually developed into a skilled player. Vintage soul records by Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, and Otis Redding filled the house during his youth, and his later immersion in folk traditions broadened his palette further. After moving to Louisville to work professionally, he had become a versatile musician drawn to folk, jazz, R&B, and bluegrass.

His initial songwriting efforts received a major boost when he joined the Sparrow Quartet, an acoustic supergroup alongside vocalist Abigail Washburn, banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, and violinist Casey Driessen. The ensemble circled the globe, traveled to Tibet under U.S. State Department sponsorship, and issued several recordings that fused American and Asian folk elements. Although his bandmates held greater renown, Sollee drew favorable attention for his playing, and NPR’s Morning Edition included him among its Top Ten Unknown Artists of the Year in 2007. In 2008 he issued his own EP, If You’re Gonna Lead My Country, then the full-length Learning to Bend.

While the Sparrow Quartet maintained an active touring schedule through 2008 and 2009, Sollee also collaborated with pianist Vienna Teng and fellow Kentuckian Daniel Martin Moore. Together with Moore he co-wrote material that became the album Dear Companion, produced by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and released by Sub Pop in February 2010. Seeking closer ties to the places he played, Sollee took up environmental advocacy through bicycle tours. After recording 2011’s Inclusions with percussionist and longtime associate Jordan Ellis, he and three companions launched the cross-country Ditch-the-Van tour, biking between regional shows before switching to rail for the next leg.

His next album, the self-produced and band-focused Half Made Man, appeared in September 2012. A year later came The Hollow Sessions, a set of covers of songs by the Zombies, Tom Waits, and Paul Simon. In 2014 he performed at Carnegie Hall during a Paul Simon tribute concert. That same year Sollee wrote the score for Naomi Iizuka’s play At the Vanishing Point in Louisville. He released the first installment of the Steeples EP pair in 2015 and the second the following spring. Late 2016 brought his fifth studio album, Infowars, again recorded with Ellis, followed by extensive touring. In summer 2017 he issued the ensemble project Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native.