One of the many highlights of the gorgeous Sparrow Quartet set at the 2007 Telluride Bluegrass Festival was the song "Bury Me With My Car" featuring cellist Ben Sollee. Here was a cello player who sang with a rich soulful Kentucky tenor and put on a thumb pick to strum his cello when the rhythms moved him.
Ben has released several wonderful solo albums since then, including a fine new one with Daniel Martin Moore which you can listen to here:
http://soundcloud.com/subpop/sets/dearcompanionLast August his set on the Folks Fest stage was one of the most moving sets of the weekend - singing gorgeous folk-pop songs, interspersed with Appalachian fiddle tunes and Bach cello suites. Fun, lively, virtuosic, and deeply moving. We're so excited to welcome Ben back to Telluride this June...
If you've never heard Ben give this video a spin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km7MoRDqgEA