Our friend Frank Solivan has announced he will be leaving the Navy Band, Country Current, in the spring and turning his attention to his own band. For 5 years Frank has been playing electric guitar, mandolin and fiddle with the Navy Band. It’s a stable, paying gig and it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

It has been a great job and sense of financial security for sometime, but I have decided to move on and focus my energy on my own music. I’ll be leaving the Navy Band at the end of my enlistment, April 14th 2009. This has been a difficult decision, but I know I have made the right choice for me.

Focusing on his own music means fronting his own band, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen. The name is taken from an instrumental on Frank’s first solo project, I Am A Rambler. The band has already been performing on a limited basis, working around Frank’s Navy schedule. Most recently, they just returned from a short tour in Alaska, Frank’s original home state, and enjoyed an enthusiastic response from the crowds there.

The band is basically the core group of musicians who were on Frank’s last recording project, Selfish Tears. Band members include: Mike Munford on banjo, John Miller on guitar, Stefan Custodi on bass, and Frank on mandolin and fiddle. Frank is excited about the group of musicians he’s put together.

They are a bunch of extremely talented musicians and close friends. A winning combo if you ask me!

The band will be performing at a number of late night showcases at IBMA this year and are currently booking dates for 2009.

Frank tells me he has been composing some new material for a recording project and hopes to get the band in the studio sometime this fall or winter.

Visit Frank’s website for schedule/booking info, and to hear mp3 samples from his two solo records.