Ben Sollee played his bluegrass stylings on a cello during the first official U.S. music tour of Tibet with Bela Fleck’s band Sparrow Quartet along with Abigail Washburn and Casey Driessen in 2006. 

He is releasing a solo CD called Learning to Bend, with the local SonaBlast Records, in June. He will play the opening ceremonies of the new American Embassy in China in August. John Paul Jones of, well, you know . . . just produced one of Ben’s sessions and his son, Oliver, is still counting his presence on the planet in weeks.

Read all that again and then know this: Ben Sollee is not yet 25 years old. Let’s all hope he lives to a ripe old age and stays right here at home in Kentucky, mainly Louisville (he was born in Lexington). 

“This is my home,” says Ben, “because there is a certain pace of living here that resonates with me . . . the quick moving river and solid hills. . . .” But Ben is not an artist alone with his thoughts, He has collaborated with local video artists, dancers and photographers and wants more to incorporate art as part of his musical performance. “I ride around town on my bike and look up into buildings and wonder ‘who is in there and what could I be doing with them?” he muses.

“All this town needs is more connective tissue . . . young people investing their time in Louisville because we can all be a part of building something here.”