BEN SOLLEE

"Sollee's own songs on Learning to Bend channel the artists he heard his parents play while growing up — Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Otis Redding — with a touch of the folk recordings he later discovered. Sollee pays tribute to these singers with a remarkably soulful voice of his own and some surprising instrumentation. At the heart of Learning to Bend is Sollee's warm and resonate cello, an instrument he's plucked and bowed since he was a child." - All Things Considered, National Public Radio