Ben Sollee

Ben Sollee is a KY cellist who plays like nothing you've heard before. Following a performance at the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series, the New York Times remarked how Sollee’s “...meticulous, fluent arrangements continually morphed from one thing to another. Appalachian mountain music gave way to the blues, and one song was appended with a fragment from a Bach cello suite." You may have heard Sollee’s work in ABC’s Parenthood or HBO’s Weeds, or Killing Season, a film starring John Travolta and Robert De Niro.

He has played with trance bluesman Otis Taylor, with banjo virtuosos Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck (in the Sparrow Quartet, with Casey Driessen), and collaborated with DJs, acoustic musicians, visual artists, software specialists and environmentalists. He has composed ballets and music for films and for stage. He has helped raise his son and support his family with an ambitious tour schedule.

Working with Sollee is a natural choice for Sustain. Sollee and his rugged cello, Kay, have a history of telling unconventional stories and using music to bring awareness to sustainability and environmental issues. Seeking a deeper connection to communities on the road, Ben packed his touring life on to his bicycle in 2009. Since then he has ridden over 5,000 miles! He has been invited to perform and speak on sustainability at a number of festivals including South by Southwest Music (2011) and TEDx San Diego (2012). Closer to home, Ben has devoted a tremendous amount of energy to raising awareness about the practice of Mountain Top Removal Strip Mining in Central Appalachia. His 2010 collaborative album Dear Companion (Sub Pop) brought together fellow Kentucky artist Daniel Martin Moore with producer Jim James (My Morning Jacket) to shed light on the issue. In teaming up with international organizations such as Patagonia Clothing and Oxfam America, Ben has come to be known as a thoughtful activist and dedicated informer at shows.

To hear more of Ben Sollee's music and to check out his tour schedule, visit www.bensollee.com

Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge

The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge protects more than 47,000 acres of southern New Jersey coastal habitats which is actively managed for migratory birds. The refuge’s location in one of the Atlantic Flyway’s most active flight paths makes it an important link in seasonal bird migration. Its value for the protection of water birds and their habitat continues to increase as people develop the New Jersey shore for our own use.

Forsythe is one of more than 555 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is a network of lands and waters managed specifically for the protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat and represents the most comprehensive wildlife resource management program in the world. Units of the system stretch across the United States from northern Alaska to the Florida Keys, and include small islands in the Caribbean and South Pacific. The character of the refuges is as diverse as the nation itself.

Learn more at www.fws.gov/refuge/Edwin_B_Forsythe/

Rutgers University Marine Field Station

The Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS) is a remote outpost of the Rutgers University Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences (DMCS). It is a working research facility with ongoing graduate and postdoctoral level studies occurring year-round. RUMFS is uniquely situated, across from the Little Egg Inlet in the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary: one of the most pristine estuaries on the east coast.

Visit: https://marine.rutgers.edu/main/rumfs