Ben Sollee performs at Asheville Music Hall

Ben Sollee is not your typical pop singer. Aside from his genre-blurring songwriting — a folk-centric blend of Appalachian roots, soulful vocals and pop-friendly melodies — it’s not often you see a classically-trained cellist tapping and scraping his instrument to mimic hip-hop beats, plucking its strings like a guitar or covering Tom Waits tunes. Not to mention hauling the enormous instrument from show to show on a bicycle.

Cheyenne Marie Mize plays One Stop

Mize first gained national attention for collaborating with fellow Kentuckians Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Ben Sollee. However, the multi-instrumentalist’s genre-hopping solo work soon caught the attention of outlets ranging from The New York Times to NPR, overshadowing her backing work and earning the songwriter a deal with Yep Roc Records. Tonight, Mize stops in Asheville for a performance downtown.

We like to ride our bicycles

The Asheville cycling community has made some major strides over the past few years, thanks in large part to the efforts of Asheville on Bikes. Now, area riders have a new outlet for sharing stories and highlighting upcoming events with the emergence of VeloCity, a quarterly magazine dedicated exclusively to cycling in the Asheville area. Oh yeah, and I’m in it.