MR. KOJO NNAMDIThis is one dirty kitchen you might just want a meal from. Frank Solivan and his band, Dirty Kitchen, don't just play Bluegrass. Frank Solivan is also a gourmet cook, who's decided to bring the tastes and sounds of his childhood to a wider audience.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIHe'll bring the food and the band. He brought my lunch, which I'm having right now. You bring your friends. It comes naturally to him. His musical family has always gathered to share music and a meal. He, himself, plays many instruments, mandolin, violin, electric and acoustic guitar.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIBut perhaps his most accomplished instrument is his voice. That powerful tenor that carries songs like "Somebody's Missing You" over the twang of the instruments. Joining us to discuss the Dirty Kitchen experience and his latest albums, the aforementioned Frank Solivan. He leads the Bluegrass band, Dirty Kitchen, sings lead vocals and plays the mandolin. Frank, how are you?

MR. FRANK SOLIVANI'm fine. Thanks for having me, Kojo.

NNAMDIPlease do a lot of talking today, because I'll be so busy eating. Tell our listeners what you brought me.

SOLIVANWell, I brought a Caprese salad that I sourced at the local farmer's market down in Alexandria on Sherwood Hall. I go there every week -- most every week when I'm in town. And it starts with a little tomato, a little purple basil, salt and pepper, a little lemon juice, a little olive oil, nothing fancy, just really good food that's, you know, some people call me a chef, and I'm not really a chef. I just like to cook good food. And I'm not a caterer.

SOLIVANYou know, the thing that we do called the Dirty Kitchen Experience is on the house concert model and we go into somebody's house and I'll cook a big meal either for 20 people, it'll be the three-course meal. And you can go on our website and check out the menu options and there's pictures and comments of people and whatnot. Then there's a 50-person option where I cook a big pot of something, and it's a little less formal seeming.

SOLIVANWe don't bring all the tablecloths and tables and chairs and plates and spoons, you know. We don't set up a big spread on a table to look all fancy. It's more of a -- kind of a, you know, down home vibe, you know.

NNAMDIAnd I can tell you if it tastes anything like my lunch, you need to do this. You grew up in the deep backwoods of Modesto, California.

SOLIVANThe deep backwoods of Modesto.

NNAMDIHow did you get interested on bluegrass?

SOLIVANI was born in Modesto, and actually I grew up kind of outside Modesto in the rural area of Turlock and Ceres, and there was a dairy ranch I grew up on. And my whole family plays music on my mom's side and on my dad's side, and I was surrounded by music all the time even back -- my dad's mom toured around like Vaudeville kind of shows around the country.

SOLIVANAnd she was a tumbler and she played violin and mandolin, and she spread her love of music to all of my dad's, you know, siblings, and my dad of course too, and, you know...

NNAMDIThey also love...

SOLIVAN...it just trickled on down.

NNAMDIThey love food also.

SOLIVANOh, yeah. There's pictures of the family reunions, you know, or family gatherings even just, you know, weekly family gatherings where the table is covered with food and, you know, people are holding instruments, and it's just a beautiful vibe, and that's the whole thing that we're trying to get across with this Dirty Kitchen Experience.

NNAMDIItalian, German.

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDIYour dad is half Filipino.

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDIYour uncle married a woman from Guam. So when you guys put a table together...

SOLIVANOh, it's all kinds of food, yeah.

NNAMDI...there was all kind of influences there.

SOLIVANYeah, totally. It's incredible food, incredible vibe, you know, and that -- I don't know. I just love making people smile, you know, with music of course, but also with food. And they're the two things in my book that bring people together, so why not try to market it a little bit too, you know.

NNAMDIIf you'd like to join this conversation with Frank Solivan, you can call us, 800-433-8850. Are you a bluegrass fan? How did you get interested in bluegrass? What do you think of D.C.'s bluegrass music scene? Our own Katie Daily here was born and reared and Washington D.C., been a bluegrass fan all her life. 800-433-8850. How were you yourself introduced to cooking, Frank?

SOLIVANWell, there's a picture of me sitting on the counter of my mom's kitchen, and her letting me stir a pot of food when I was just a toddler, and it kind of progressed from there. And my mother was in the restaurant business, you know, anywhere from cooking to management and all of that, and I work in a couple of restaurants in a catering business down in Nashville for some folks, and, you know, I realized that kind of thing every day, day in and day out, is not my cup of tea, really, in the restaurant business.

NNAMDIBecause you worked in restaurants. You worked in restaurants.

SOLIVANYou know, I did a couple of short stints for sure, and I realize that's not where my passion was. My passion was sitting down like I did in my family, you know, at a table at the house with a great meal and instruments popping out and performing, you know, or just playing music, you know. That's just the whole vibe I grew up with. And I had this epiphany, when I was in high school I went to this party and I saw, you know, teenagers kissing in the corner, loud, you know, kind of annoying music going and pumping, and I was like, where are all the instruments. This is weird, you know.

SOLIVANWhat's going on? Oh, wait a minute. What I do is different than what most people do, you know, what I grew up with. So it's pretty interesting to be able to share that with people, you know.

NNAMDIWell, we've talked food and we've talked music, so let's hear some of the music. Let's start off with a tune from your most recent album, "Frank Solivan and the Dirty Kitchen." This song is called "July, You're a Woman."

NNAMDIFrank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, "July, You're a Woman." Tell us a little bit about that song.

SOLIVANWell, that song came from a guy named John Stewart from the Kingston Trio. He played in the Kingston Trio.

NNAMDIThat John Stewart.

SOLIVANYes, the other John Stewart. The musician John Stewart. Then he went on to do his own thing and he has since passed. But a band by the name of Red, White & Bluegrass recorded that in the late '60's and a friend of mine, Ginger Boatwright (sp?) was in that band and she showed me that song, and we kind of spread it all over the floor and bluegrassed all over it, kind of dirty kitchened all over it, you know, and made it our own and, you know, that's who wrote it at least.

NNAMDIYou used to play with the Navy's Country Current Band. Most people...

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDI...don't even know that the Navy has such a band. Tell us about that.

SOLIVANRight. It's the only country and bluegrass group in the military as far as I know. And I auditioned on the electric guitar and played country guitar with them, and was one less person to leave at home because I played the mandolin when they would go do the bluegrass gigs. So I would play mandolin and fiddle with them and, of course, sang and -- yeah. It was a great gig.

NNAMDIBut you got to travel with the Navy, but you decided not to stay on with the Navy band two years ago, why?

SOLIVANYeah. I felt like I needed to do something different. I needed to go and, you know, I have all these other passions that I wanted to, you know, pursue, so here I am, pursuing them.

NNAMDIWell, I'm going to get to the future in a second. One more thing about the past, though, because you lived in Alaska for a good part of your youth.

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDIAnd in fact, you were the four -time fiddling champ there.

SOLIVANYeah. The state fair fiddle contest.

NNAMDIAnd you played first chair violin for the University of Alaska, so you're classically trained as well.

SOLIVANWell, I did some classical studies, yes, indeed. And it was a very short stint as first chair but, you know, and, you know, it was a small little orchestra and, you know, as you can imagine in Alaska it sounds more grandeur than it is, but, you know, it's fun to say and just fun to, you know, talk about that kind of thing, I guess. But, you know, really what I want to do is play acoustic more American roots music, and there's where my heart lies.

NNAMDIYou're based in Alexandria now, but you still travel with your band on gigs?

SOLIVANOh, yeah. We travel. We are headed up to Alaska next January of all times in the year to go, it's gonna be mighty cold. But we're playing the Anchorage Folk Festival up there, and a few other handful of gigs.

NNAMDIA few more things that are coming up a lot sooner than that, but first, let's talk with Daniel in Bethesda, Md. Hi, Daniel.

DANIELHi, how you doing?

NNAMDII'm good.

DANIELFrank, this is Danny, the sound man from Old Country the other night.

SOLIVANHey, Danny.

DANIELAnd really enjoyed your show. How you doing? And actually, I want to know, since Frank brought his mother up to sing with him the other night and she was wonderful, so I was wondering if you could give me some background into some of your earliest influences and music that your parents turned you onto that made you the way you are.

SOLIVANOh, wow. Great question. Well, my mom, of course, she's an amazing singer and she plays guitar, and my dad play guitar, banjo, and mandolin, and bass, and knows his way around on a few instruments. And like I say, my whole family plays. I even have an aunt that's in the Western Swing Hall of Fame. And I don't know, they -- I would have these eight tracks of Elvis and, you know, tapes of Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs, all the way to Newgrass Revival to James Brown.

SOLIVANMy dad would take me to Tower of Power concerts, and we went and James -- not James Brown, but Ray Charles, to the Judds, to, you know, all kinds of bands. I was just surrounded by it all the time, and, you know...

DANIELSo did you ever play soul music or blues music before finding bluegrass as your real calling?

SOLIVANOh, man, one of my, you know, most favorite concerts I went to was a Tower of Power concert which is a East Bay funk, you know.

NNAMDIMm-hmm.

SOLIVANI love it. I was -- just did an interview with Juli Thanki the other day for Bluegrass Unlimited, and we were listening to Prince. She was all, what are you listening to right now? I said, oh, I turned on some Prince and some Stevie Wonder, you know. And it's not just bluegrass, you know. There's so many influences I feel like our band has, you know, that we don't just play really traditional music, although we come from traditional kind of, you know, places in our playing, you know.

SOLIVANYou can hear those roots in there, although we've branched out a bit, you know.

NNAMDIHey, Daniel, thank you very much for your call. You too can call us at 800-433-8850. We're talking with Frank Solivan. He leads the bluegrass band Dirty Kitchen. He sings lead vocals and plays the mandolin. A little more about The Dirty Kitchen Experience, because...

SOLIVANAll right.

NNAMDI...when you cook, there are some special meals that you cook that you call a one-pot wonder.

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDIFrank's Ginger Chicken with Rice.

SOLIVANHey, I love that. Ginger chicken, actually making that on Friday, doing a private event, a dirty kitchen experience on Friday here on Capitol Hill with some friends of mine, and we're gonna follow it up with a concert. It's really incredible. I mean, I have this huge pot that I could feed probably up to 120 people with this pot actually, and you could use two burners underneath it. it's just really almost intimidating, you know, this pot when you look at it.

SOLIVANBut cook it -- you know, I usually start the day of, or even the day before, in getting prepared. I went and sourced a bunch of stuff at the farmer's market today actually for this Dirty Kitchen Experience on Friday. And if somebody really wanted to have one...

NNAMDIThank you.

SOLIVAN...there is a giveaway, a contest going on right now, and we have partnered with Music City Roots, Live from the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Whole Foods, and Blackstone Brewing Company to award a lucky winner with basically the house concert of the summer is what they're calling it. And we show up, and I cook this meal and we follow it with, you know, we start busting seams with a concert, and you can go on their -- on my website, or their website.

NNAMDIYeah. I was about to say how can I win that?

SOLIVANWell...

NNAMDIApart from bribing you, I have to go to the website?

SOLIVANYeah. Our website where all the information is, is called dirtykitchenband.com, and they even set up a whole film crew, so they're gonna do a live podcast and they're gonna give you a DVD at the end of the deal, and it's really a great opportunity. It's gotta be within the 75-mile radius of Nashville, but anybody could win, and if they have a friend or family member in that area, they can transfer it to that person and they'll give you a $250 travel voucher.

NNAMDII'm looking up my friends in Nashville area even as we speak. You can have the Dirty Kitchen Experience. You can win it. Frank Solivan will come to your house, he will cook one of his favorite gourmet meals, either Frank's ginger chicken with rice, Frank's chili verde served with rice, and Frank's pasta bowl if you happen be a vegetarian.

SOLIVANYeah. Love the pasta bowl. Gotta love that. And actually, you know, we got a couple of -- you can come see the band this week. We got a few things going on if you're interested. We're playing up in Sykesville, Md., tomorrow, June 9th at 8:00 p.m. at Baldwin Station. You can go to baldwinstation.com, and then like I said, it's a private event on the 10th, with the Dirty Kitchen Experience, and then the...

NNAMDISaturday.

SOLIVANSaturday. The big one.

NNAMDIWAMU's got its own bluegrass tradition, this year marking the 10th anniversary of WAMU Bluegrass Country...

SOLIVANThat's right.

NNAMDI...as a full-time 24-hour station this Saturday. Musical celebration, the stars of the State out in -- it goes -- it's at the State out in Falls Church.

SOLIVANYeah. The State Theater, yeah.

NNAMDIWhich is one of my favorites, by the way.

SOLIVANYeah. I guess there's gonna be half seating and half open for dancing. I mean, that's what it usually is. I'm not exactly sure.

NNAMDII get to be a presenter at the Whammys out there, so I love the State Theater.

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDIBut you and the band are one of the groups headlining that event.

SOLIVANYeah. We're starting off at 5:30. I think the doors open a little earlier than that, but get there early and get your seat and -- or get your spot to dance in, whatever you want, and it's gonna be great. The Boxcars are also playing, and the Steep Canyon Rangers, who backup Steve Martin when he's out on the road doing his thing too.

NNAMDIIt's not at all odd that you're based in Alexandria right now because it's not odd that a bluegrass musician would choose this area as a home base. We've got a long bluegrass tradition here. Where does D.C.'s bluegrass tradition come from?

SOLIVANYou know, there's a ton a musicians, anybody from the Country Gentlemen, to Seldom Seen, you know, and of course, 1973 County Current the U.S. Navy Band was formed here. And there's just a ton of rich bluegrass history here. And I would really like to help build this bluegrass and acoustic music Americana tradition here a little bit more and make it even more attractive for people to come here and have it be the other, you know, Music City USA.

SOLIVANI would love that. And, you now, just open up the whole industry a little bit more. That's my goal at least, even with this Dirty Kitchen Experience. I'm gonna be putting out a cookbook next year and hopefully eventually getting to pitch an idea to some cable network about a television program with this whole idea. So stay tuned on that too.

NNAMDIHere is Steve in Fairfax, Va. Hi, Steve.

STEVEHi, how are you.

NNAMDII'm well.

STEVEI just wanted to add my two cents. I had the opportunity to experience the food and the music at the IBMA, the International Bluegrass Music Association conference last fall, and I sampled Frank's ginger chicken. It was awesome. But the other thing that was a highlight for me, was being to hear those stringed instruments in an intimate, you know, room kind of setting as opposed to through a PA system. It's a much higher quality experience, and I encourage everybody to try to get into a situation where they can hear these bluegrass instruments up close and personal, because it's really fantastic.

NNAMDII'm glad you brought that up, Steve. Because Frank, exactly what are you trying to create for people with that Dirty Kitchen Experience? The intimacy I guess is...

SOLIVANYeah, totally. The intimacy, the whole like family vibe, there's this really great camaraderie that happens, and they're my favorite types of gigs, the really intimate small settings like that. I mean, we've played huge festivals for thousands of people, but, you know, I mean, I'm not saying that's not fun, but the most fulfilling for me is maybe because, you know, that's how I grew up, but that's -- this is the kind of vibe I like to do, and the kind of gig I like to do.

NNAMDISteve, thank you so much for your call.

SOLIVANYeah. Thanks Steve. Thanks for calling.

NNAMDII know it's enjoyable, but the fact of the matter, Frank, is that you do all the cooking...

SOLIVANYeah.

NNAMDI...and then you and band play. How tough is that to pull off both a gourmet meal and a concert in the same evening?

SOLIVANIt's a lot of work. (laugh) It's a lot of work, but it's so fun, and like I say, so fulfilling. I really love it. And just to see people smile, you know, and have such a great time. I don't know. You just have to do it, you know. You have to experience it to understand, I guess, you know. So...

NNAMDIHow do the band members feel playing in a more intimate setting? I know that...

SOLIVANOh, I'm sure -- I know for a fact they love the intimate smaller vibe gigs, because you just -- you connect more with people, you know.

NNAMDIYeah.

SOLIVANAnd that's the beauty of it.

NNAMDIThe big events that you play, you can hear the fans yelling and screaming, but you don't get to know them quite in the same way as you do at a small event like the...

SOLIVANTrue enough.

NNAMDI...Dirty Kitchen Experience, coming soon to a home near you, especially if you happen to live in the Nashville area. Frank Solivan, thank you so much for joining us.

SOLIVANThank you, Kojo. My pleasure.

NNAMDIAnd thanks for my lunch. Frank Solivan leads the bluegrass band, Dirty Kitchen. He sings lead vocals and plays the mandolin. Thank you all for listening. You can hear as we said earlier, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen this Saturday evening at Stars at the State. It's a bluegrass concert sponsored by WAMU bluegrass country. It'll be in Falls Church at the State Theater, tickets $25. You can find a link at our website, at the event that's our website, kojoshow.org. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.