Since Frank Solivan left the cold climes of Alaska for the bluegrass hotbed of Washington, D.C., he’s built a reputation as an absolute monster mandolinist. His band Dirty Kitchen has steadily become a festival favorite. Solivan, with banjoist Mike Munford (2013 International Bluegrass Association Banjo Player of the Year), award winning guitarist Chris Luquette and bassist Jeremy Middleton, pack a powerful musical punch with instrumental, vocal, and songwriting skills. They have won the Washington area Music Association’s Best Bluegrass Band of the Year for four consecutive years.

Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen’s CD release party at the me&thee will celebrate this special new album that pays homage to Solivan’s family. It features the pristine playing of his closest music heroes including Sam Bush, John Cowan, Jerry Douglas, and Del McCoury among others. It was recorded in an intimate, living-room style; Family, Friends & Heroes is a generous glimpse into Solivan’s heart and the talents of his beloved family members. It’s a project that makes perfect sense coming from Solivan, says Craig Havighurst, music journalist and co-host of Nashville’s “Music City Roots: Live from the Factory.” “Family made Frank’s passion for and career in music possible,” says Havighurst of his friend and colleague. “Friends have come easily as he’s taken his open-hearted way with bluegrass on the road, and heroes have guided his journey and, in many cases, have become like family. Family, Friends & Heroes is a toast to things that matter in life and a testimony to how good music can feel when talent is fused with soul and sincerity.”

The band’s previous release, Cold Spell (2014, Compass Records), proved a hit among fans and industry leaders alike and garnered multiple awards, a Grammy nomination (Best Bluegrass Album), and top prize in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest. A Bluegrass Today review of Cold Spell and previous releases called Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen “what bluegrass music needs these days . . . master musicians who fully understand the history and tradition but aren’t afraid to explore new sounds and concepts.”

. . .

Talented guitarist/songwriter Ethan Robbins opens the show. He began his bluegrass career at Oberlin College and is founding member of The Outhouse Troubadours, an Oberlin Bluegrass Phenomenon, he began to explore how this hard-driving fast-paced genre could be stretched. A classical violinist from age four, Ethan fell in love with the guitar when he turned fourteen and his father bought him five quintessential albums: The Band’s Music from Big Pink, Bob Dylan’s Bringing it all Back Home, John Hartford’s Steam Powered Aereo-plane, Hank Williams Live at the Grand Ole Opry, and the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Ever since, Ethan has attempted to bring those raw, rootsy sounds into his own original material.

• Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are what bluegrass music needs these days. They are master musicians who fully understand the history and tradition but aren’t afraid to explore new sounds and concepts. Bluegrass Today
• Frank’s voice is in top shape, mining new territory in the fusion between bluegrass and soul Music City Roots
• It’s a bit of an over-simplification to pigeonhole Frank Solivan and his band as the early twenty-first century answer to the Newgrass Revival. But I think the comparison is apt, just as I think the presence of two former Newgrassers, John Cowan and Sam Bush, is not just a coincidence. Bluegrass Unlimited
• For those of you who’ve been spending time under a bluegrass rock lately, Solivan and his bandmates are one of the hottest acts around. In a live performance, they tear it up, no other way to describe it. Cold Spell manages to capture a lot of that intensity. . . . In this day and age a lot of bluegrass music is exploring the bookends of the genre. It’s either a throwback to the early days or an exploration of the indie sound with Americana instrumentation. Cold Spell crashes squarely through the middle of the style, with excellent instrumental skills and lyrical hooks that keep you swaying to the music when you aren’t dancing to the jams. Shawn Underwood, Twangville

• Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen’s

• Website | Video | Interview

• Ethan Robbins’s

• Website | Video | Interview