Live Heart: My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman is a 3LP set that captures one legendary night in bluegrass. On January 8, 2022, in the aftermath of a Nashville blizzard, Béla Fleck was joined by three generations of renowned players who together brought the fire: Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Edgar Meyer, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Billy Strings, Bryan Sutton, Tony Trischka, and Molly Tuttle.
The celebrated banjo virtuoso and musical adventurer has both dug deep into his instrument’s complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities. He has earned 19 Grammy awards, and his acclaimed studio album My Bluegrass Heart, was a homecoming in sound. The music Fleck composed for his GRAMMY…
Tag Archive: Béla Fleck
Featuring Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and more The Fiddle and the Drum brings together 5x Grammy winning soprano Renée Fleming and 19x Grammy-winning banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck for a celebration of Appalachian folk music.
Produced by Béla Fleck, the album mines a rich vein of America’s musical heritage, weaving the expressive depth of Fleming’s voice with the brilliance of Fleck’s banjo, backed by an all-star bluegrass line up and special guests including Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Mike Bub, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Bryan Sutton.
Through mountain songs, haunting ballads, and folk hymns, The Fiddle and the Drum…
“Banjo, harp, drums…what the hell is that?” Those words, spoken by drummer Antonio Sanchez at a concert played by himself, banjoist Béla Fleck, and harpist Edmar Castañeda, the men who made BEATrio, this international group’s debut album. Fleck played with both men previously: He met the Mexican jazz drummer at a tribute to Hindustani percussionist Alla Rakha, and then they played together as a duo in Mexico opening for Dave Matthews. Fleck and the Colombian harpist played a duo in Riverside Park, and performed similarly at 2019’s Big Ears Festival.
After the jams with Sanchez offered real possibility, they reached out to Castañeda and formed a trio. The musicians wrote and improvised together, and in September 2024,…
