KNOXVILLE — Mountaintop removal coal mining impacting Appalachia is the focus of the album “Dear Companion” by collaborating recording artists Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore. The duo will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Tickets are $5 for UT students, $20 for UT faculty and staff and $25 for general admission. Tickets to the event can be purchased online at http://knoxvilletickets.com/ or at any Tickets Unlimited outlet. They also can be purchased at the ticket office in UT’s Thompson-Boling Arena. UT students, faculty and staff may purchase tickets at the Central Ticket Office in the University Center on campus.
Daniel Martin Moore, from Cold Spring, Ky., has studied photography and joined the Peace Corps, but his love of music has prevailed. Sub Pop Records helped him release his first album, “Stray Age.”
Ben Sollee finds his roots in Lexington, Ky. NPR’s Morning Edition named him one of the “Top Ten Unknown Artists of the Year” in 2007. From playing with Abigail Washburn, Bela Fleck and Casey Dreissen in the Sparrow Quartet to his tours with Vienna Teng and the Paper Raincoats, Sollee is no stranger to collaboration.
Moore and Sollee fused their Kentucky roots in 2009 to record “Dear Companion” with fellow Kentucky musician, Yim Yames, of the band My Morning Jacket. The album explores the meaning of home in Appalachia and the increasing problem of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Proceeds from “Dear Companion” benefit Appalachian Voices, an organization devoted to ending mountaintop removal.
The event is co-sponsored by UT’s Cultural Attractions Committee, the Visual Arts Committee and SPEAK.
C O N T A C T :
Sarah Kim, CAC Press Secretary, (865-228-8826, skim64@utk.edu)
Bridget Hardy (865-974-2225, bhardy4@utk.edu)