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BMI's Music World, an online publication of the venerable performing rights organization, has a new article up that features an interview of Earl Scruggs by Béla Fleck. They plug the interview as being about composing - not surprising since they are both BMI writers - but the pair of banjo pickers covered a good bit [...]
Béla Fleck shared some information about live tour support for his new Rounder CD, Throw Down Your Heart, in a recent interview. The album is an audio chronicle of Béla's musical journey's through western Africa in 2005. He recorded with a number of musicians in Mail, The Gambia, Uganda and Tanzania and their collaborations make [...]
Béla Fleck has been credited with reviving the five string banjo and bringing it to new audiences over the past 20 years, much as Earl Scruggs had done as the seminal banjo pioneer 40 years earlier. Fleck might shrink from such a comparison, but seen in a context beyond bluegrass and traditional music forms, it [...]
The gala events surrounding the inauguration of our new president are about to get underway, and I've just learned that banjoist Bela Fleck and fiddler/violinist Mark O'Connor will take part. Bela and O'Connor have accepted an invitation to perform with Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra in Washington D.C. on 19th January as [...]
Throw Down Your Heart, the documentary film on Béla Fleck's journey of discovery to Africa to explore the banjo's roots, is set to screen on Thursday (10/9) at the Tucson Film & Music Festival. The film was directed by Béla's brother, Sasha Paladino, and has already won awards from Silverdocs and SXSW in 2008. It [...]
Not a lot of bluegrass content here, but if you are a fan of the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant combo and would like to see them live, here's your chance. The Austin City Limits Music Festival is taking place September 26-28. The only bluegrass related acts I saw on the bill where the Krauss-Plant show and [...]
Renowned banjo master Béla Fleck has recorded a Christmas project in collaboration with his touring band, The Flecktones. Jingle All The Way contains their arrangements of familiar Christmas and holiday music, and is expected for release on Rounder Records September 30. The selections pay homage to all-time Christmas favorites (Jingle Bells, O Come All Ye [...]
The Sparrow Quartet will be kicking off this year's Woodstock Film Festival with a concert. The concert will take place at the Bearsville Theater west of downtown Woodstock, on October 1, 2008. The Sparrow Quartet is lead by Abigail Washburn and features banjo master Bela Fleck, along with Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee. In addition [...]
The July 21, 2008 issue of Newsweek magazine included a feature on banjo player, vocalist and songwriter Abigail Washburn and her current touring and recording venue, Sparrow Quartet. The magazine's Brian Braiker caught up with Abby and fellow quartet members B?©la Fleck, Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee at a live performance in New York's Battery [...]
Video of a recent performance by Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet on the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour can now be viewed online. The group is composed of Abby on clawhammer banjo and vocals, Bela Fleck on 3 finger banjo, Casey Driessen on fiddle and Ben Sollee on cello. They are the sole guests [...]
