Ben Sollee releases a surprise album, available for free download today

Singer-songwriter cellist Ben Sollee is a frequent visitor to Asheville, playing regularly at The Orange Peel and LEAF. According to a press release, he “spent a few days this past summer trying to capture the songs and sounds that have influenced his life and music” — songs by Arthur Russell, Otis Redding, Paul Simon, Harry Belafonte, The Zombies, Howard Finster, Bill Monroe, Fiona Apple, Tom Waits and Gillian Welch. Sollee recorded a house-turned-into-makeshift-studio near Prospect, Ky.

“Screened porches, hallways, decks, and living rooms lend their own particular character to the recordings, and the hollow’s voice can be heard throughout: bugs chirp, birds whistle, water flows, and the wind blows,” says the press release. “More collaborator than background, the house and hollow provide the listener with a rich audial scenery and shape Sollee’s voice and cello as he seeks to capture his own versions of the songs that have shaped his development as a musician and songwriter.”

The album, “The Hollow Sessions,” is available today (Tuesday, Oct. 1) for free download through Noisetrade.com. A limited-edition 180-gram vinyl is also available through Institute 193’s SHOP.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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