Award Nomination, New Recording, Putumayo and Music City Roots
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Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Bluegrass Band
Recording in Nashville & GREY FOX!
…and we’re back… finally!
DannyB in the skunk ear seat
It has been an action packed three weeks let me tell you what! Since last I blogged we had just come back from our long June run at the Kluane Mountain Music festival in the Yukon, Bean Blossom, mine and Frank’s side trip to Granite Creek pickers retreat in Alaska, and the Northwestern run in Seattle and Portland. We had a few days down, then we piled in the van for Nashville to record with our hero Brent Truitt from the Steeldrivers. Brent is a grammy award winning producer with a seriously impressive resume, check out his website and you’ll see what I mean. The first two weeks in July we practically lived in the studio! We only came out to play a show at the Station Inn, which was a night for the books… John Cowan sat in
FS&DK w Cowan & Ickes Station Inn
for a bit and Rob Ickes for a longer bit. Definitely a nice change of pace from the studio and a good time at that. Big thanks to Mike Bub for doing such a good job on the sound and making my bass sound HUGE 
… Back to the studio – with the incredible ears, ideas, and monkeyfingers (that’s what his studio is called!) of Brent, we made a CD of original music that we all think is the best yet. Fresh new material from the pen of Frank, Frank’s cousins Ty Smith and Megan McCormick, our own Mike Munford, myself, and former bass player Chris Walls. I can honestly say that we all played our butts off, and we haven’t been able to sit down since!
Hot car!
From Nashville we drove back to Northern Virginia, spent a day off to let our butts heal and then loaded up the van for Grey Fox. My dad also decided to come down from Alaska and get in on the fun, so we drove my car up together. The 100 degree heat was a bit of a strain on my car, but I carried plenty of water and we made it there with without any serious problems… whew!
FS&DK GreyFox Main Stage
Grey Fox is definitely in the top 5 best festivals I’ve ever been to, and definitely the best east coast fester for me yet. The lineup is a who’s who in the bluegrass world: from progressives like the Stringdusters, Punch Brothers and Della Mae, to the more traditional acts like The Lonesome River Band, Jesse McReynolds, The Del McCoury Band and Hot Rize. Throw in some Dawg, Deadly Gentlemen, Dirty Kitchen and season it with the Steeldrivers, Old Time Kosmic Trio and Tornado Rider, you have all the makings for serious musical mayhem! We had SUPER responsive sets at all three stages, and everybody we talked to liked the new band
DAD!
members. Chris and I joked into the mic, “yeah Frank and Mike are doin’ pretty well.” A highlight for me was having my dad sit in on dobro for Great Divide and July You’re a Woman. If you haven’t heard of Greg Booth, do a youtube search for “AKSlider” and you’ll see what I mean… a hoss! A big highlight was when all of Dirty Kitchen joined Tim O’Brien (with fiddlers Mike Barnett and Brian Wicklund) for a tribute set to those who’ve passed on. It’s not every day I get to play and sing with Tim O’Brien on stage, or ever for that matter. We were joined by banjoists Noam Pikelny, Sammy Shelor, Pete Wernick, Ryan Cavanaugh and Ira Gitlin for a tribute to Earl at the end. It was a 20+ tune Earl Scruggs medley… Not always easy for the bass player to pick the tune that way, but it was big fun and got an huge audience response. Top it off with some great jamming and I had the time of my life! Enormous thanks to Mary Doub, Chuck Wentworth, and Mary Burdette for such a fantastic festival!!
Tim O'brien w FS&DK Grey Fox
We are back in DC for a couple days off, gearing up to go back out for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival tomorrow morning… time to git’er again! Til next time, this is your Lonesome Unit signing off 
Git’er,
Danny
Northwestern Rig Wrapup
…and we’re back!
Fretboard Journal
Hello Friends! Danny Booth here for your Dirty Kitchen weekend report, and I’m happy to say we are getting her DONE! This weekend in the Pacific NW has been full of excitement, starting with a radio show at KCBS Seattle and then an interview with Fretboard Journal. Stay tuned for the interview on their website with pictures and video!
FS&DK @ the Tractor Tavern
The weekend has been filled with a variety of great shows, starting with one we had been anticipating for a long time… the Tractor in Seattle. Thanks to the Gloria Darlings for warming things up for us and bringing a good vibe. Chris’ fans definitely brought exceptional enthusiasm, and new fans from Wintergrass and Seattle Folk Festival helped to round out the audience.
We love getting to share our brand of bluegrass with all kinds of audiences, and we definitely covered the gamut this weekend! From a rocking stand up crowd at the Tractor (see video), we drove to Portland to play at Mississippi Pizza. Mostly sitting but very lively and appreciative hipsters at this venue, with great food and a wonderful staff that treated us right! Thanks to Four on the Floor for starting off the night. You guys were great.
Danny & Frank visit an old friend
We also got to visit a special Alaskan friend on her birthday – Annalisa Tornfelt! For those who don’t know her, she was the singer songstress of the Alaskan band Bearfoot, now playing with members of the Decemberists in the great band Black Prairie. So great to see her, Darian and John McDonald doing well.
Chris and Mike spotting submarines in Puget Sound
From there we drove back to Seattle, then next morning took a ferry across Puget sound to the Port Ludlow Bay Club. Yet another completely different audience of mostly retired folks that belong to the PLB Club. They were so enthusiastic, I thought we were back at the Tractor for a moment! This is a brilliantly executed concert series in a beautiful location, and we would definitely like to come back.
the band rallies behind Mike at the climax of Line Drive
The tour was capped off by a well-attended house concert at Lexx Collier’s house in Seattle. The weather decided to perk up on us, and we played in their back yard. Yet another energetic audience of die-hard acoustic music lovers. The long, eventful weekend only added to the band’s energy (see pic!). What a great way to end a two and a half week tour! It feels great to share what we do and connect with so many different types of people. We really appreciate your support in the Pacific Northwest and can’t wait to come back.
Now back in the DC area grabbing a quick rest and regroup before heading to The Red White and Bluegrass Festival on our way to Brent Truitt’s in Nashville where we are recording the new album. We have been running our new material extensively for the last several months and can’t wait to throw it down in the studio! Stay tuned for updates from the rest of the band on the recording front… it will be exciting to say the least. Until then, git’er!
Your lonesome unit,
Danny
Dirty Kitchen returns to Guitarist’s homeland.
Hello Northwest!
Chris here doing my first report for the crew here at dirtykitchenband.com. It is very nice to be back with the band in the land where I am from, the Seattle area, Renton Washington specifically, and the Northwest.
Last night we had a great show at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard! The crowd was enthusiastic, and we had a great time. Many thanks to The Gloria Darlings for opening the show, and of course a very special THANK YOU to Devon Leger at Hearth Music for all the his efforts to promote the show and spread the word. Devon himself is a very fine fiddler, and if you like French-Canadian music, you should check out his family band La Famille Leger!
Tonight we are playing at Mississippi Pizza/Pub in Portland, Oregon! Showtime is 9pm and local band 4 On The Floor is the opener.
The rest of this tour includes shows in Port Ludlow, WA, and a house concert at “The Spotlight” in Seattle.
CLICK HERE to get a taste of the rowdy Tractor crowd!
(Photo courtesy of Ronna Dansky)
Looking ahead, we’ll be doing some rehearsing in the next week to work up some new material. We are stoked with what we have to work with and can’t wait to break it in on a stage near you!
July 1st, we’ll be in Morganton, NC at the Red, White and Bluegrass Festival. Our set is at 5pm.
Friday, July 6th we’ll be at the “World Famous”(or so I’m told) Station Inn in Nashville Tennessee! Who know’s who’ll show up at a gig like this, word has it legendary banjo player Michael Munford might sit in…….
Until next time, Chris Luquette
Granite Creek, Alaska back to Seattle and Portland
Hey there folks. Frank reporting from the plane to Seattle. Just spent the last 6 days in Alaska with Danny Booth. We got to Anchorage last Thursday and headed off to Granite Creek Musician’s Retreat. Here’s a video of our enthusiastic audience…
It’s kind of like a family reunion of musically inclined friends on the festival model… So we played a couple of sets with some Alaskan friends and a couple of amazing fiddlers sat in on Saturday night – Lauren Rioux and Brittany Haas.
Then I headed to Kodiak to visit a friend of mine. What a nice place to be this time of year! The bald eagles were everywhere. I can’t wait to go back!
Thursday through Sunday we are playing some shows in and around Seattle and Portland… Check ‘em out to the right on our schedule or below. Hope y’all can make it out!
- 06/21/12Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen in Seattle, Washington at The Tractor BUY TICKETS
- 06/22/12Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen inPortland, Oregon at Mississippi Pizza BUY TICKETS
- 06/23/12Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen in Port Ludlow, WA at Bluegrass Hootenanny Dinner-Concert BUY TICKETS
- 06/24/12Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen in Seattle, Washington at Seattle House Concert – “The Spotlight”
A Day at BEAN BLOSSOM
Hey there! This is Frank reporting from Alaska. We just got back to the north country from Indiana today. Yesterday (Wednesday) we played the longest running bluegrass festival – Bean Blossom. Special Consensus, Kenny and Amanda Smith, Longview and tons of other acts were there. What an honor it was for us to be there surrounded by such incredible musicians and music lovers. It seemed like our brand of bluegrass was received well. We hope to get back there next year!
We stuck around to listen to Longview’s show and to say the least, Don Rigsby brought down the house with some mean, high tenor work. When I grow up, I want to sing tenor like that!
Here’s Mike Munford about to introduce the seminal JD Crowe to Chris and Danny backstage after their performance. I wonder what JD was thinking at this moment?
Kluane Mountain Music Festival Report
Dirty Kitchen jamming with Rob Ickes
Hello folks! Danny Booth here, reporting for my new weekly FS&DK blog post… and I’m here to say that we had an absolute blast at the 2012 Kluane Mountain Music festival! I can’t emphasize enough how smoothly the festival was run. Everything from on-call hotel shuttles, amazing food, superb sound crew, all added to a once-in-a-lifetime experience… Not to mention the quality of the bands they hired! The stage performances by Blue Highway, The Gibson Brothers, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Hard Ryde, and Modern Grass were all top notch… I have to say though, jamming with Rob Ickes and the Blue Highway guys was the highlight. We even had Rob join us for our Saturday night set. Hopefully some YouTube material will surface that we can share in a future blog post. We sure would love to be invited back to this world class bluegrass festival in the Yukon!
Next up for Dirty Kitchen… BEAN BLOSSOM! We are thrilled to be performing at the longest running bluegrass festival ever, and we hope to make some new fans with our style of bluegrass. Stay tuned for updates from Indiana… until then, here’s a video from the window of a 1943 Beechcraft staggerwing that Dirty Kitchen got to joyride!
Cheers,
Danny
Yukon Bound…
…and we’re off…
We are off to play the Kluane Bluegrass Festival in Whitehorse, YT, Canada. Hope to see some familiar faces and meet some new folks.
Here’s a video from our last festival in Shelton, WA…
Some new video…
…from Bluegrass From The Forest
Some new video from the Kitchen
Here are some videos from our shows at Old Settler’s Music Festival…
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