Frank Solivan is a fiddler, mandolin player, and singer who grew up near Modesto, California. He won fiddle contests as a boy, sat first chair violin in the University of Alaska Anchorage Sinfonia, and won back-to-back fiddle contests at the Alaska State Fair. From 2003 to 2009 he played fiddle and mandolin in the bluegrass unit of the U.S. Navy Band’s Country Current. He now leads Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, whose story is on his mandolin page.
Why Solivan matters
Solivan is a bluegrass fiddler with classical training. He played first chair violin in a university orchestra while he worked in Alaska’s country and bluegrass bands. In the Navy band he played electric guitar in the country group and fiddle and mandolin in the bluegrass unit. His record label carries the fiddle in its name: Fiddlemon.
Life and career
Solivan grew up near Modesto, California, in a musical family. His grandmother on his father’s side played mandolin and fiddle, his father plays banjo, guitar, bass, and mandolin, and his mother’s side included classical violin and cello players. As a boy he won contests as a fiddler and as a banjo player and played second chair cello.
In 1995, at 18, he moved to Alaska and studied violin at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He played first chair violin in the UAA Sinfonia and played in local country and bluegrass bands, where his fiddle and mandolin kept him in demand. At the Alaska State Fair he won back-to-back fiddle contests. In 2002 he recorded his first solo album, I Am a Rambler, in Nashville and released it on the Fiddlemon label.
Soon after, he auditioned for a guitar slot in Country Current, the U.S. Navy Band’s country and bluegrass group, and joined in 2003. He played electric guitar in the country band and fiddle and mandolin in the bluegrass unit. The Anchorage Daily News wrote that his fiddle and mandolin gave the band extra range when it brought out its bluegrass players. In 2006, while still in the Navy, he released a second solo album, Selfish Tears.
Solivan left the Navy at the end of his enlistment on April 14, 2009. His new band, Dirty Kitchen, grew out of the musicians on Selfish Tears: Mike Munford on banjo, John Miller on guitar, Stefan Custodi on bass, and Solivan on mandolin and fiddle. Dirty Kitchen won IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year in 2014 and 2016. Later lineups list him on mandolin, but he still brings out the fiddle on stage.
Playing style
Solivan’s fiddle has three sources. At home he heard his grandmother’s fiddle and his family’s bluegrass. In college he studied classical violin and played orchestra parts. In the Navy he played fiddle and mandolin with the bluegrass unit and electric guitar with the country band.
That mix carried into Dirty Kitchen. The band’s first lineup listed him on both mandolin and fiddle, and he sings lead as well.
Influences and legacy
Solivan grew up in a family band and on California bluegrass. On I Am a Rambler he worked with David Grier, Rob Ickes, and fiddler Shad Cobb. In Dirty Kitchen he has played beside Mike Munford, who won IBMA Banjo Player of the Year in 2013, and guitarist Chris Luquette.
Essential recordings
I Am a Rambler (Fiddlemon, 2002) Selfish Tears (Fiddlemon, 2006) Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen (Fiddlemon, 2010)
Awards and honors
Alaska State Fair fiddle contest, back-to-back wins IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, with Dirty Kitchen (2014) IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, with Dirty Kitchen (2016) Grammy nominations, Best Bluegrass Album, Cold Spell and If You Can’t Stand the Heat, with Dirty Kitchen
Watch and listen
Solivan plays fiddle with Dirty Kitchen in a tribute set to banjo player Bill Keith at the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association on October 24, 2015, with Mike Munford on banjo, Chris Luquette on guitar, and Danny Booth on bass.
What to learn from Solivan
Take one fiddle tune and learn it on two instruments, the way the Navy job asked Solivan to do. Play it on fiddle with a full bow and a clear tone, then play the same melody on mandolin and match the phrasing. Each instrument will show you something the other hides: the mandolin exposes uneven timing, and the fiddle exposes weak tone. If you own a fiddle and no mandolin, do the same thing with your voice: sing the melody, then bow it.
Sources
Frank Solivan, Wikipedia Alaska mandolin master makes return visit, Anchorage Daily News Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Bluegrass Today (2008) Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen: Leading the way in today’s bluegrass, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more fiddlers. Shad Cobb fiddled on Solivan’s first album. Tim O’Brien and Ricky Skaggs are two more mandolin players who also hold their own on fiddle. Solivan’s mandolin work and Dirty Kitchen’s records are on his mandolin page.