Louisville musician Ben Sollee is hard guy to pin labels or expectations on. He's influenced by folk, soul, jazz and bluegrass but his work doesn't fit neatly into any of those categories. He's a singer-songwriter but his string instrument of choice is the cello not the guitar. His music has some quirky elements but he's not a one note quirky musician like say Nellie McKay. He's got a new CD coming out (Learning to Bend) but instead of a normal record release party at a bar or club or even a music shop he's celebrating with two nights of music, dance and photography at 21C Museum Hotel.

The performance will be focused on music created by Ben for Learning to Bend and will feature the choreography of David Ingram (North Carolina Dance Theatre) and Delilah Smyth (formerly of Louisville Ballet). Dancing will be Erica De La O and Chris Wojtera of the Louisville Ballet. A photographic series by Louisville photographer Mickie Winters accompanies the music and will be on display. Ben will be performing with a musical ensemble that will include string quartet, harp, percussion, and spoken word with some extra surprises.

That sounds like a cool event.

An Evening Of Music and Dance with Ben Sollee
Celebrating the release of Learning To Bend
Choreography by David Ingram and Delilah Smyth
Photography by Mickie Winters
Friday November 16th and Saturday November 17th
21C Museum Hotel
8 pm
$10

Check out Ben's MySpace page for a few older audio clips to get a feel for his eclectic sound. I haven't heard anything from the new record yet but I'm looking forward to hearing it soon.