Music

Appalachian Voices come to Lexington

Photo: Guy Mendes

By Derek Brown

Thursday July 22nd

Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore w/ Yim Yames.

The Lexington Opera House. 401 W Short Street. $25. 8 P.M. All ages.

In Kentucky few topics are as fiercely debated as the future of coal.  Lexington native Ben Sollee decided to use to the power of music to shine a light on this divisive issue for the rest of America to see.

Outraged by the destructive effects of surface mining in the eastern portion of his home state, Sollee organized a collection of local musicians to spread awareness on the controversial practice of Mountaintop Removal (MTR) in Appalachia. All artist royalties from Sollee’s latest album, Dear Companion, are being donated to Appalachian Voices, an environmental organization dedicated to combatting irresponsible strip mining practices in the eastern United States.

“It is our hope that, with the help of Appalachian Voices, we can show a few more folks around the nation the amazing culture, heritage and land of Appalachia that is being destroyed for nothing more than electricity,” said Sollee.

Sollee had been toying with the idea of using his music to raise awareness for some time when he heard Flyrock Blues, a demo on the Myspace page of fellow Kentuckian Daniel Martin Moore.  Sollee was so moved by the demo he contacted Moore, who was born in Elizabethtown and hails from Cold Spring, in hopes of a collaboration. A few weeks later the two met in Louisville and discussed MTR, the far-reaching effects the practice has on the entire region and the possibility of recording an album together centered on the issue they were so disturbed by.

Moore echoed this concern to Seattle Weekly when he said that living in eastern Kentucky, “You never know if the water you’re drinking is full of cadmium or methane. It’s just such a far-reaching amount of pollution and disregard for basic health, basic human rights.”

Sollee and Moore channeled their ideas and views into lyrics and guitar chords a few months after meeting at Lexington’s own Shangri-La Studios.

The Kentucky-duo grew to a Kentucky-trio when My Morning Jacket frontman and Louisville native Yim Yames agreed to join the Moore and Sollee in Lexington and produce the album.

The result was an eleven-track compilation pitchfork.com described as a “state-of-the-state album (that) finds three musicians focusing on the ecological problems facing Kentucky.”   Dear Companion was released on Sub Pop Records February 16.

The decision to donate all artist royalties from Dear Companion to Appalachian Voices was based on the group wanting to “point to an organization that was doing great work to raise awareness nationally about the struggles and beauty of Appalachia,” said Sollee. “We want Appalachia to profit from this record, not us.”

Sollee, Moore and Yames are taking their attempts to spread awareness one step further this summer by embarking on a nine date tour through the heart of the Appalachian countryside.  The trio will perform songs from Dear Companion as well as the group’s various individual projects.  The Appalachian Voices tour, named for the beneficiary of the album’s proceeds, begins Thursday July 22 at the Lexington Opera House and includes stops in Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia and New York as well as a spot at the storied Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.

An evening in as intimate an environment as the Lexington Opera House with the caliber musicians of Yames, Moore and Sollee is not an event for music fans to miss. The combined harmonies of the three Kentuckians on stage is sure to strike a chord with an audience so entrenched with the issue at the heart of the music.  The show is sure to be a highlight of the Lexington summer music calendar.

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