Frank Solivan has worn a lot of hats: a military issue one during his six-year stint in the Navy bluegrass band, a chef’s hat during his restaurant days and headgear that would combat the cold when he lived in Alaska.

That’s probably why the singer, picker and songwriter is so comfortable shifting from the kitchen to the stage with his band Dirty Kitchen in a single night. It’s probably also why he can cover so much territory on his new album, On the Edge, and bring top-tier guests like his cousin Megan McCormick, Rob Ickes and Tim O’Brien along for the ride.

You’ve spent time in some contexts that few other bluegrassers can claim — one being Alaska and the other being the Navy. How small is the Alaskan bluegrass scene? The only Alaskan bluegrass musicians I’ve ever heard of are related to you, were tutored by you or are in your band.

Solivan: (laughs) You know, there’s a pretty good scene there. I moved up there from California when I was 18. I actually heard about the Alaskan music scene through a friend of mine, Ginger Boatwright. … Long story short, she invited me up there after I had said something about moving to Montana with my mom. … My first weekend in Alaska was at a music festival, and I pulled up in my old ’63 GMC pickup truck and met the core group of people that were like instant family and friends. There are some really great pickers up there, some great aspiring pickers and a huge population of music lovers there for sure. I was pretty fortunate to be catapulted into that scene right away.

And I come from a really big musical family, so it just felt natural. We would always get together and go to music festivals, or at family gatherings, we’d have big spreads of food and everybody’d start whipping out instruments.

Now I do this thing called “The Dirty Kitchen Experience,” where I take that love of food and music, and I put ‘em together and cook for people.

I’ve read about that. You do that at your house concerts.

Yeah. It’s a night where I don’t really make a lot of money or anything, but it’s all about connecting with people and fostering a relationship.

The bluegrass association with food goes way back — to Martha White sponsorships. The food you make isn’t country cooking so much as artisanal fare. What difference do you think it makes that you’re pairing your music with, say, herb roasted Cornish game hen as opposed to biscuits?

I love a good biscuit, though. Don’t get me wrong.

I think when somebody sees a really beautiful plate of finely prepared food, they want to eat it — as opposed to food that’s just kinda slopped on a plate. … I just want people to give my music a chance, and I think it’s easier to do when it’s presented well. I want to have a nice, rehearsed band but having plenty of room for experimentation and soloing. The same with the food that I cook. I want there to be a really good presentation.

You’re of a generation of musicians who were wowed not only by first and second generation pickers but by bands like New Grass Revival, who were doing a funky, youthful hybrid thing. What did that do for your musical imagination?

It’s funny you say that because we were just listening to a New Grass Revival show from the Strawberry Music Festival. I was there. I was 9 years old, in the front row with my dad and cousins and some other family members. I could hear my dad applauding and whistling. He has a distinctive whistle.

My whole family plays music. … All those instruments — the banjo, bass, mandolin, fiddle — I’d seen them all growing up, but I didn’t realize what the potential was. I was really blown away by what they could do and what these guys were doing — Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, John Cowan and Pat Flynn. I’ve always remembered that.

New Grass Revival famously covered pop and rock songs. For the new album, you refashioned the Box Tops ‘60s pop song “The Letter.” How did that one find its way into your repertoire?

I’ve always dug that song, and I always thought it would be a cool tune to do with bluegrass instrumentation. Several years ago, a friend of mine name Angelica Grimm — great singer — was wanting to cut a record, so she asked me to produce it. I was gathering some songs, and I thought it’d be interesting to try it out. … Now it’s probably our most-requested song wherever we go — that and another song from our last record called “July, You’re a Woman,” which is not a typical bluegrass song, either.

As for songwriting, every genre has its share of songs about how love makes people crazy. But your song “On the Edge of Letting Go” doesn’t just use that as a metaphor. It’s about mental illness and alienation. What convinced you that that could translate into a song, especially a bluegrass song?

Well, I don’t know if I would even call it bluegrass. I would just call it a song. … It was inspired by someone who suffers deeply from mental illness. There’s this point where you can only do so much, and the person that may have been there before the disease got so bad is seemingly gone. You have to at some point let go, but at least remember. … It’s this weird balancing act kind of place that I don’t know very many songs that have been written about.

Since that’s the title track of the album, people are also applying it to where you fit in the musical landscape.

Yeah, on the edge. It’s kind of where our band lies. … And that’s how we like to play too. We get in front of an audience and we wanna stretch out. … We’ll go for stuff in our solos that I don’t know if we’re gonna make it out alive or not, but somehow we do. We haven’t had any crash-and-burn moments yet.

Supersuckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti approaches his rootsy solo project from the perspective of a punk rocker who grew up in a country town. The Value of Nothing shows off both influences plus all the wild-man energy of Spaghetti’s live shows. The Seattle-based musician says this is his first album of all-original songs, and the title track came to him in a flash.

“‘The Value of Nothing’ was the first song written for my new record,” says Spaghetti. “I was in Australia, and I read this Oscar Wilde quote about how people know the price of everything and the value of nothing and BAM! Just like that it hit me. A song was born.

“I made up the song in about 20 minutes back at the hotel room, and I started thinking about this record and the types of songs I wanted to have on it,” he says. “This song isn’t about anyone in particular. It’s more about everyone in general. I like that.”

Check out the CMT Edge premiere of Eddie Spaghetti’s “The Value of Nothing.”

“I’m always more than happy to chat the virtues of Dr. Ralph Stanley because they’re plentiful,” Don Rigsby assures me. He’s not kidding. We’ve just spent the better part of an hour talking about Stanley and Doctor’s Orders, Rigsby’s new record and musical tribute to him.

A galvanizing meeting with Stanley as a 6-year-old boy set Rigsby on a career path he’s still following today.

“This record’s been 40 years in the making!” he declares. “I’ve always heard it said, ‘Give people their flowers while they’re livin’.’ So this is my bouquet of flowers to Ralph Stanley and my thanks to him for being such a positive and strong influence to me.”

There’s a satisfying retro vibe that never goes off the deep end into throwback territory. Yet while Rigsby’s versions are far from being Stanley soundalikes, they do favor the traditional side of the genre.

“I wanted people to see the well from which I drew all my inspiration. There’s elements of Ralph Stanley in [everything] I do because it’s an integral part of what I am,” Rigsby affirms.

Even the production of the record pays homage to Stanley. Rigsby tried to recreate the timbre of the Stanley Brothers’ 1960 recording of “Little Maggie,” a version that is “perfect in every way,” he contends.

“The timing and the feel of the song, however they mixed it, had the perfect balance of the 1960s treble and reverb and all that stuff,” he explains.

Although Rigsby says he’s under “no delusions” that his version measures up to Stanley’s, he admits to trying his best to recreate that sound — “even down to putting the slap rhythm guitar on it like they had on the original version.”

As honest as the music is on Doctor’s Orders, what really pulls the ears into the album is Rigsby’s voice. He sings like he has nothing up his sleeve, and his delivery betrays his mastery of the lonesome Stanley sound. Remarkably, most of the vocals on the record are scratch tracks.

“Because I knew ‘em so well already,” he points out, “I could have slaved and toiled over ‘em and overdubbed the life out of ‘em, but I decided if it sounds OK, it is OK.”

Similarly, the music was put to tape with the same approach.

“The arrangements were already made!” Rigsby states definitively. “We’d just listen to the original version of the song one time and then go in and cut it.”

It’s not surprising it was all so effortless considering the album is rife with current and former Clinch Mountain Boys.

To whittle Stanley’s prodigious catalog down to 13 songs, Rigsby made a master list of 50 titles he limited to tunes Stanley recorded after his brother Carter’s passing in 1966. He then gave the list to Stanley, who chose the final 12.

“That’s why it’s Doctor’s Orders,” Rigsby explains. “It was his decision about what I should and shouldn’t cut.”

The 13th slot was reserved for “Little Maggie,” the only Stanley Brothers song on the record.

“‘Little Maggie’ was the first song I learned, and my mom kind of insisted that I do it because she remembered me learning it as a little child and doing everything in my power to sing all the moves that Ralph did on it,” Rigsby divulges.

Most of the other songs were culled from the deeper side of Stanley’s catalog, and Rigsby feels they chronicle his own journey as a musician.

“These songs, there’s little stories about each one of them,” he notes.

Case in point, “The Daughter of Geronimo,” a little-known Stanley gem Rigsby “set out on a quest to find” years ago after reading a review of the album it was on in an old issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. He says the first time he heard the song was a “magic moment” in his life. It’s a moment he recreated on Doctor’s Orders by singing the song as a duet with Stanley. Rigsby believes it’s as good as anything he’s done in the last 25 years.

“I think I’ve matured a lot musically, [and] I think the whole record is probably the best thing I’ve ever recorded just because of that,” he surmises. “This one here is more personal I guess than anything I’ve done. … If I never got to make another record and this had to be my last, I’d be content with that.”

As our chat winds down, I ask Rigsby if he wouldn’t mind sharing a story that captures the essence of who Stanley is to him. He recounts a time when he got fired from a band he was in and went to see Stanley play to cheer himself up.

At the show, Stanley brought Rigsby onstage to pick the mandolin and sing “The Angels Are Singing.” After the tune, as Rigsby was walking off stage, Stanley stopped him and announced to the crowd, “Folks that right there is the first time that song’s been sung right since Ricky Skaggs was in my band.”

Rigsby was moved.

“Now, for him to say something like that,” he says. “Really! It made me feel so much better, and it validated what I was doing, you know? Because when someone lets you go, it causes you to question whether you were doing the right thing. I just can’t say enough good about him. … If you had a bad thing to say about him, I’d probably have to take issue with it.”

Nothing wrong with that. The way Rigsby talks about Stanley so reverently is quite touching. But as moving as his words are, they’re not as compelling as what he says in his music. Doctor’s Orders is where Rigsby really chats up those plentiful virtues and lays bare his feelings for Stanley in an affecting, if not timeless, musical valentine.

Taylor Burns, Joel King, Ricky Young and Preston Wimberly are all singer-songwriters living in Nashville, with ties to Austin, Texas. “The Ceiling” is full of bombastic harmonies and twists and turns, but a catchy guitar lick and personal lyrics keep the guys connected to their country-rock roots. Their band’s broad musical direction helped earned opening slots for Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Check out the Wild Feathers’ “The Ceiling.”

Chip Taylor’s Block Out the Sirens to This Lonely World elegantly maps a personal journey through heartache in the title track and healing through “Tears From an Old Yonkers Child.” The legendary songwriter’s new collection succeeds entirely.

“This is more reflective than some other albums,” Taylor says. “I was in Norway during the terrible [2011 terrorist attacks], and that became a part of me. There are things like that floating around on this album.”

Along with an extensive discography of his own, Taylor’s music has been recorded by country legends such as Bobby Bare (“A Little Bit Later on Down the Line”), Emmylou Harris (“Son of a Rotten Gambler”), Waylon Jennings (“Sweet Dream Woman”), Willie Nelson (“He Sits at Your Table”) and George Strait (“The Real Thing”), among many others.

CMT Edge spoke with the songwriter behind the classics “Angel of the Morning” and “Wild Thing” about the new project, what makes a song great and meeting Jimi Hendrix early on.

CMT Edge: Tell the story behind writing “God Bless Norwegians.”

Taylor: Yeah. In that song, I’m looking out room 209 in the Grand Hotel, which is in Halden, Norway. I was there when the tragedy occurred. I did a benefit concert right around that time for the victims, and I saw this mom in this parking lot with her two kids and she was crying. It just stayed with me. All the lyrics and the feelings of that song come from me watching out of room 209 at the Grand Hotel.

How did you choose the album title?

The album title is just one of those things that just flew by me. The [album’s title track] came so fast. I was in my 15th floor apartment in New York with the door to the terrace partly open. Sometimes I hear sirens go by, and they disturb me when I’m trying to write my songs or whatever. But on this particular occasion, I took the sound of the sirens with me into a song. The idea is that it’s really a kind of prayer to some people I know. I took them on the journey with me, and it’s a prayer to find some peace.

Do lyrics usually come first for you?

I’d say 99 percent of the time I just have a guitar by my side, and a mood will strike me and my hand will be guided to some kind of feeling with chords and strumming because of what’s going on inside me. Stuff starts to come out of me, and I don’t really identify it. I don’t know what it means, and sometimes it’s just nonsense words and syllables, and then I just let it go. If it gives me a chill, whether it’s words or a phrase or a certain hum that works against the chord, then I continue it. If something gets to me, I try to keep creating that and let it slowly branch out forward.

How many songs do you keep for every one you write?

Well, it depends on what you mean by “keep” them. Most of them, if I finish a song, it’s doing something to me. They are all documented someplace, whether it’s a mini-disc player, my iPhone5 talk file or whatever. I have several of those that meant something to me prepared before I decided what I was going to do with this album.

How does this album represent your artistic evolution?

Well, one thing that’s different is that I met a keyboard player Goran Grini right at the time I told you about, during the killings in Norway. He became part of my band, the New Ukrainians. He sang with me on the tribute song I wrote for the victims the day after the killings. Him singing with me was just a chilling experience. He has such a beautiful voice. So I asked Goran to produce the album, which is something I almost never do. I usually just get in the studio with my band and try to make it feel good. Feel is such an important thing for me. Some of this is a little different with strings and horns arrangements. I hadn’t done that in years.

Tell the story behind writing “Tears From an Old Yonkers Child.”

It was as sad and lonely a period as I can ever remember having. I was extraordinarily depressed when I wrote the song. I just picked up the guitar, and this song wrote itself out so fast. I just played the guitar and put my iPhone5 thing on record, and this song just played right through. I hardly changed anything. I just went with wherever it was going. It was one of those magical times. I’ve written a few songs like that. “Angel of the Morning” wrote itself so fast. There was almost no adjusting it when I was finished.

How did “Angel of the Morning” come to you?

A lot of people say the lyrics are great to that song. It came from being inspired by a war movie I’d seen the previous day where the hero and the heroine would maybe never see each other again and they might have one night together. They’re on opposite sides of the war. I wrote that spirit in the lyric. I think it’s a lovely lyric. It’s been No. 1 with totally different lyrics in different countries. There’s something about the feeling of the song that overrides.

What elements make a song great?

Other people might say something different. For me, I just want to get some sort of a chill from a song. I mean, I know when I was a kid and listening to the early Sun records … I go back now and listen, and I didn’t even know half the lyrics. I was singing them wrong, but it didn’t make any difference. It was the feeling you get from them. A great song just communicates. It doesn’t have to communicate in your language. A person who doesn’t speak a word of English can still get totally carried away by “Wild Thing” or “Angel of the Morning.” There’s a spirit that transcends words.

Do you have a favorite cover of your songs?

Well, the three main versions of “Wild Thing” are wonderful. I mean, Jimi Hendrix’s interpretation was great. The Troggs’ version was amazing. It sounded just like the demo I’d done. I loved it for that, but also for the honesty that Reg [Presley]’s voice brought to it that wasn’t so sophisticated. Jimi Hendrix loved that version. The X version is another wonderful one.

Did you ever talk to Hendrix about his version?

I talked to Hendrix before he was Jimi Hendrix, but I didn’t see him after. I saw him in New York when he was still Jimmy James. Some songwriters introduced me before “Wild Thing” became a hit and before Jimi became a star. He was an aspiring songwriter for a few weeks and seemed like a really, really nice guy.

Tom Petty – Erika Goldring/Getty Images

GULF SHORES, Ala.. — When the bookers for the Hangout Music Festival were securing talent for this year’s lineup, they must’ve been asking, “How would this sound at the beach?”

From iconic artists like Tom Petty to rising bands like the Mowgli’s, many of the artists fit perfectly with the sunny vibes in this Southeastern vacation spot over the four-day festival, which concluded Sunday (May 19).

If you’re into urban music, there was plenty of that. (Kendrick Lamar enjoyed some of the biggest buzz of the long weekend.) Throbbing dance music was nearly inescapable. If you prefer rock, that was easy to find, from Kings of Leon to the Black Crowes to Imagine Dragons. For that loosened-up festival vibe, fans could check out Trey Anastasio Band, Galactic and … well, just about any band would do the trick.

The four-day festival is on a long stretch of white sand, so there was plenty of space for taking it easy during the day. One tent offered rum drinks and hammocks. The VIP area had a swimming pool. One of the top attractions was a gigantic water slide for adults. In fact, the whole thing was pretty much for adults. I didn’t see many children around at all. Bronzed college kids were definitely in abundance, though.

On Saturday, I started the day with Delta Rae, a band with so many musical influences (and lead singers), there’s something for everyone. After that, I walked back across the beach to hear Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, a San Francisco-based ensemble that keeps it low-key. If you go to the beach to mellow out, this easygoing group should be part of your soundtrack.

Then I shuffled back to see Shovels & Rope, a husband-and-wife team who commanded the big stage without a backing band. They looked like they were having a blast on the drums — and the crowd seemed like a mix of fans who already knew the music and others who were thrilled to discover it. Their dynamic performances are just loose enough that you might think, “Hey, cool party band.”

Then I drifted over to the BMI stage, pulled in by the upbeat, fun-loving music of the Mowgli’s. I had never heard of this San Francisco-based band, but their cheerful stage presence and bright melodies made me want to grab a drink and linger for a few tunes.

On Sunday, Alabama native Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit put some grit into the festival with smart songs about heavy topics, like on “Outfit,” yet the crowd was fully engaged. Although most of the music at Hangout was lighthearted, it’s heartening to see a crowd tune in when they needed to. And there’s no denying he can write a memorable melody, especially on “Alabama Pines.” With a solid band behind him, including new wife Amanda Shires on harmony vocals and fiddle, Isbell also introduced a couple of new songs from an album arriving June 11.

Isbell now lives in Nashville, a city that was well-represented in its musical diversity. For example, the band Space Capone played the set just before Isbell — and cranked up the funky party music, horns and all. Three outdoor bars and a foam machine certainly didn’t hurt the vibe.

Living in Nashville, there are plenty of pop bands I’ve heard about, but for some reason or another, I haven’t been out to see them. Fortunately for me, they were booked for Hangout, so I was finally able to catch Luella & the Sun (wonderfully weird), Wild Cub (enjoyable dance-pop, at least from what I heard at the soundcheck) and the Wild Feathers (classic rock with a Southern spin.)

This part of the world, known around the region as the Redneck Riviera, gets ridiculously busy after Memorial Day. But why wait? For music fans with eclectic tastes, the Hangout Music Festival was a fantastic reason to start the summer season early.

Watch exclusive videos from Hangout Music Festival.

Fun @ #hangoutfest = waking up w/sweet hair this morning. 1 coffee later & I’m ready to rock @centerstageatl 2nite twitter.com/RyanBingham/st…

— Ryan Bingham (@RyanBingham) May 18, 2013

Check out Bingham’s live performance from the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala., on Saturday (May 18) and see if it makes you want to skip town, too – and head straight to the beach.

Shovels & Rope – Monica McKlinski/WireImage

GULF SHORES, ALA. – For Shovels & Rope singer Cary Ann Hearst, the Hangout Music Festival is like a homecoming. During the band’s Saturday (May 18) afternoon performance, she recounted the annual vacations her family enjoyed on the Redneck Riviera, right down to the memories of giant tricycles.

Shovels & Rope, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, and Delta Rae helped Americana fans feel right at home, too, even though it was sort of like a family reunion without air conditioning. The sweltering day still brought thousands of fans to the sandy beaches of lower Alabama.

It’s been about a year since I’ve seen Shovels & Rope in concert, and their intense tour schedule is paying dividends; they’ve never sounded tighter. Plus, the husband-and-wife duo grabbed four nominations for the Americana Music Honors nominations last month, so they’re definitely having their moment.

New favorite band: Shovels and Rope. They’re AMAZING @hangoutfest

— Jessica B. (@readsthings) May 18, 2013

Michael Trent, the husband half of Shovels & Rope, said that their song “The Winner” is “the beachiest song we’ve got,” and noted that the tune was sent out to the underdogs of the world. And if there’s an underdog in the music world right now, that would be Shovels & Rope. The band is still based out of Charleston, S.C., but they’re hardly home after heavy touring and preparing for a tour with Dawes this spring.

One reason they’re so fun to watch is because they keep the momentum strong through the whole show, even trading off the drumsticks. On this particular gig, they didn’t employ any other bandmates, so they bravely carried the set – and judging from the strong crowd response, everybody was feeling right at home.

See photos and watch the live stream at Hangout Music Festival 2013.

Delta Rae

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Delta Rae and Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers fall at separate ends of the Americana spectrum, yet they both brought a pretty cool energy to the Hangout Music Festival on Saturday afternoon (May 18).

Delta Rae opened the day with a swift kick in the pants — or the bikini bottom, as the case may be. They are not afraid to crank it up with banging drums and huge vocals, but just as easily, they can scale it way back to a heartbreak song about regrets and elusive emotions. The band also unveiled a brand new song that had a whistling, spaghetti-Western feel to it. I didn’t catch the title, but I did note the dramatic lyrics about chasing twisters in the canyons.

The North Carolina-based band has been fortunate to appear on countless festivals by now, from the Americana Music Conference to South by Southwest to MerleFest. Their music draws on a broad range of styles, from indie rock to folk, and their fans love them for it.

@deltarae is probably my favorite of all of Hangout. If it were legal I’d marry the whole band!

— Katie Poindexter (@KatieP0409) May 18, 2013

  Meanwhile, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers hit the groove pretty quickly and stuck with it. Their laid-back demeanor is ideal for a leisurely day at the beach, even if this band is based on the other coast — that being California. Still, the sunny vibe in their music is infectious and an easy listen.

One of the main reasons I like it is because Bluhm is not an overpowering presence in the band. Rather, her warm voice is more like an instrument that weaves in and out of the arrangement, instead of taking charge of it. The band has a distinct sound and feel, which is enhanced (rather than molded) by her vocals. She’s a true singer, too, easily moving from melody to harmony, knowing when to sing quietly for effect and when to belt it out.

Her influences became apparent with a striking cover of Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good.” Turns out, you can’t say the same about this band — they’re quite good, especially when a bright and sunny day is just getting started.

Nicki Bluhm singing You’re No Good..:)Watching LIVE performances from the #HangoutFest! on.mtv.com/128ojLb

— Margaux R (@MargauxNH) May 18, 2013