Studio B

"Food and music bring people together" is the motto of Frank Solivan.  We like the way this guy thinks!  And picks... He and his DC/VA band Dirty Kitchen serve up a live set of bluegrass and more before heading to East TN for shows in Knoxville and Johnson City.  Their new release On the Edge (Compass Records) is getting strong reviews, and they were recently nominated for an IBMA Emerging Artist award.  Solivan is also known for his cooking classes, and his caprese salad in particular.  What's he bringing to Studio B?  Tune in...

The April Sessions is a quartet of familiar Asheville musicians, essentially a jazz piano trio with Dobro.  Billy Cardine, Chris Rosser, Zack Page and River Guerguerian came together for a benefit concert a couple years ago (The Odyssey Community School in Asheville), and were subsequently inspired to record an album that April that was, according to their liner notes, "imaginative, live, and without the use of a click track."  No question they'll feel right at home during their live session in Studio B!  Their CD release show is Saturday night at The Altamont. 

The word "Comas" translates from Irish Gaelic as "Power," and it describes their own driving power coupled with a fine sensitivity for the inner strands of magic that is inherent in Irish music.  This quartet has been making music for ten years now, especially in various venues throughout Ireland, Brittany, Belgium, and the US, from which they each hail.  Tune in for a powerful session Thursday morning before they play Asheville that evening! 

Jeremy Kittel is not your average fiddler.  His collaborations have included acts as diverse as My Morning Jacket, Abigail Washburn, and The Turtle Island String Quartet, and whether working with those projects or leading his own band, he is one of the leading Scottish/Irish fiddlers today.  He brings his band into Studio B before performing Thursday night in Tryon. 

Charles Bradley's life story is a compelling one (the subject of a recent documentary film Soul of America).  He takes the sounds of Stax, Muscle Shoals, and James Brown in particular, and moves it forward with a level of passion and genuineness not surpassed by anyone.  We love his latest Daptone release "Victim of Love", and we welcome him and his band to Studio B before they perform in Asheville Tuesday night.